I shouldn't have told you that!
by DaLyth
Summary: When Voldemort framed Hagrid, he thought he had found the perfect scapegoat. He never suspected that there might be more to the friendly half-giant than met the eye. Join Hagrid in his quest for vengeance against the Dark Lord. He will hold nothing back until Voldemort is utterly destroyed. A unique perspective on canon as seen through the eyes of a cunning Hagrid.
1. Chapter 1

_Many Years Ago_

From a very young age, Hagrid had known that appearances could be deceiving. The fact that his father had fallen for a giantess had hammered that fact straight into his mind. That was how he knew that his appearance, his fearsome height and imposing size, would make people fear him. And that was something that scared him. Hagrid wanted to have friends.

The half-giant possessed the better traits from both his parents. He had the strength and physical resilience of a giant and the intelligence and creativity of a human. He made full use of his human heritage to come up with a solution to his conundrum. And what a solution he found! After careful observation of the people around him, he noticed that everyone trusted idiots. Smiling idiots that could be manipulated to do anything were even worse. After all, you do not fear someone who poses no threat to you. An idiot with no ambition cannot threaten the accomplishment of your own ambitions.

He finally came to a conclusion. If he could act like a bumbling idiot, people would have no reason to fear him. He therefore made a list of the major traits that he should portray. Clumsy, loud, weird accent, helplessly emotional and not clever. He prepared for his role day and night, continuously for weeks on end. When the day came to attend Hogwarts, he was ready.

And what a success it was. Not a single person took him seriously. Everyone either mocked him, or ignored him because he offered no value. Children's mocking soon stopped because, to them, he appeared to not even understand their teasing. There was no point in attacking someone that wasn't affected by their bullying. Hagrid found himself wondering if, perhaps, he had been too successful.

But he soon found himself lots of friends in the unlikeliest of places: the forbidden forest. He liked to joke with the magical creatures of the forest that he was the student at Hogwarts with the most friends. They had liked him instantly, because he didn't threaten them and was just curious to get to know them. It also helped that he was safe from any possible attack from any creature that lived in the forest, due to his giant heritage. He found himself revealing more and more of his true nature, as a cunning, smart and caring young man, to his best friend Aragog the Acromantula. He spent progressively more of his free time learning all about the creatures that inhabited the forbidden forest through first hand experience.

Albus Dumbledore also liked Hagrid. The friendly half-giant used this to his advantage. He asked little favours here and there which were easily granted by the Professor. But aside from the good Dumbledore, no other human gave him the time of day.

Hagrid made good use of his time at Hogwarts and he learned a lot. He became very good at transfiguration and charms. He would have even been considered a prodigy in Defence Against the Dark Arts, if he hadn't significantly downplayed his abilities. But he hid all his talents, to prevent anyone from seeing through his persona.

The only place where he did not hide his abilities was in Care of Magical Creatures, a class in which he was considered a true prodigy. His skills with creatures were only enhanced by his multiple experiments. Hagrid would routinely bring a magical beast from the forest with him into the Room of Requirements to learn more about each of his friends. This knowledge made him amongst the most knowledgeable in Care of Magical Creatures in all of magical England by the beginning of his third year.

He was very careful to not be seen bringing possibly dangerous creatures into Hogwarts. After all, even if he knew they presented no dangers to anyone else, others were not aware that his friends were as intelligent as most humans. That meant that should he be caught, he would be in big trouble. Dumbledore would not have been able to help, being only a teacher at the time.

But despite his precautions, one Slytherin fourth year noticed Hagrid's activities during the half-giant's second year. Hagrid's father had recently died, and he had not been as careful as he usually was. Tom Marvolo Riddle had seen Hagrid transporting a baby Hippogriff into Hogwarts. Seeing that the creature wasn't necessarily dangerous, and that Hagrid's father had recently died, he dismissed the boy's antics as him seeking comfort. After all, he had no friends. A pet was the best way to distract him from his loss. But this piece of information would stay in his mind, and come in handy the very next year.

With Myrtle dead, the school closing, Riddle needed a way out. He would not return to the orphanage, no matter what. He thought for days to find a solution. His thoughts went back to what he had seen the year before, when Hagrid had brought a creature inside Hogwarts. That alone did not constitute a solution to his problem, but the future Dark Lord was very smart. He also noticed Hagrid's incredible grades in Care of Magical Creatures. He concluded that there might be more to Hagrid than met the eye.

Tom observed Hagrid daily, making sure to be undetectable. He took careful notice of the half-giant's schedule. Every day, without fault, he had a creature from the forbidden forest, bringing the same for five days in a row. Riddle came to the conclusion that Hagrid was so brilliant at caring for creatures because he always worked with them. When Hagrid brought in a creature that was a threat to the students for three days straight, Tom followed him. That's how he discovered Aragog's hiding place.

Salazar's heir immediately knew what he had to do. To prevent Hogwarts from being closed, he had to use Hagrid as a scapegoat. He notified the authorities after "catching" Hagrid in the act of raising an Acromantula. Hagrid's wand was snapped, despite his claims of innocence, and he was expelled from Hogwarts. The plan was perfect. Except for one thing. He failed to realize that Hagrid wasn't a clumsy idiot. The half-giant knew exactly who had caused his expulsion and ruined his life. And he swore vengeance against Tom Marvolo Riddle.

* * *

 **AN** : About a year ago, TheNicanova and I came up with this idea. It started as a challenge: to add hidden intentions behind everything Hagrid does. Of course, we found the idea of Hagrid manipulating everyone behind the scenes and being a mastermind genius in disguise to be both hilarious and incredibly interesting. So we decided that I'd write it. This is the result. I hope you'll enjoy this story as much as I've had fun writing it. Any comment is greatly appreciated, so leave a review!

Special thanks go out to TheNicanova, Tannay and katriofniflheim for their help with the story.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meeting Harry Potter

AN: Here's the second chapter. Enjoy!

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Hagrid smiled at the possibilities opened up when Harry spoke to the boa constrictor. A Parselmouth could reopen the Chamber of Secrets. Furthermore, it provided more evidence of Harry's link to Voldemort, most probably through his cursed scar. Making Mrs. Figgs trip in the middle of the stairs had paid off. Upon learning that the Dursleys would be going to the zoo for Dudley's birthday, Hagrid had made sure that Harry would be there. That broken leg had been a simple and efficient way of making Arabella unavailable. Also, Hagrid had not been in a good mood when he had learned that she had not reported any of the things the Dursleys did to Harry. The squib could have saved the boy a lot of trouble. Despite this, Hagrid still felt a small amount of remorse at having hurt her, but he had needed to know whether or not Harry could speak to snakes before continuing with his current plan. If Mrs. Figgs breaking her leg made that happen, then Mrs. Figgs would break her leg, no matter how bad it made him feel. Hagrid didn't have the luxury of taking his time anymore. Dumbledore wanted the stone at Hogwarts to use as bait. Harry and, with high probability, Voldemort would both be under the same roof, which made it imperative for Hagrid to know whether or not Harry could open the Chamber of Secrets in case things went south. After all, he would be blamed if it were to open again. Harry would be his back up in that case.

From under the cover of the Disillusionment Charm, Hagrid observed Harry's behaviour attentively. This told the half-giant that the young boy was completely subservient. It was actually pathetic. He let himself be punched in the ribs without even complaining. Hagrid vanished the glass with a wave of his wand, hidden in his umbrella. The Dursley boy and his friend yelped in horror and leaped back, much to Hagrid's amusement. Harry failed to take advantage of the situation. He just watched passively as the snake escaped. Hagrid sighed. He'd have to work on that boy some more to get him to do anything. Luckily, his servant mentality would make him extremely malleable in the future. He just needed to make sure Dumbledore's manipulations wouldn't interfere with his plans.

* * *

Some days later, the Dursleys escaped Harry's Hogwarts letters by sleeping at a motel. Hagrid laughed at the idea, and simply redirected the letters to the motel. He needed the family somewhere secluded, and the motel was too busy. They fled again after finding the letters the next day. Hagrid set it up so that they found some miserable little shack, far away from everything. He even Polyjuiced himself as the owner and 'allowed' the Dursleys to stay the night there. The half-giant was amused that Vernon thought the shack would protect them from the magical letters.

When the Dursley family went in, he could have went in right after them, but decided to wait for maximum dramatic effect. He knew that Harry's birthday would come the day after. Saving him from his family on his birthday would win Hagrid some extra points with the boy.

Five minutes before midnight, Hagrid set down his motorcycle near the shack. He activated a special charm which shrank the bike and he put it in his special pocket. He slowly made his way to the house, making sure to be slightly noisy. It wouldn't do any good to be a stealthy half-giant. He guessed nobody would pay attention to the discrepancy, but it never hurt to be careful. He looked at his watch, and counted down in his head. Three...two...one...

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered at his knock on the door. The half-giant grinned at the fact that he could break down the whole house with a single hit.

BOOM.

He knocked again, slightly harder. He heard a small voice asking about a cannon and chuckled lightly. Then he heard a crash and heard Vernon's voice shouting.

"Who's there? I warn you – I'm armed!"

Hagrid thought about the possible weapons a Muggle could have. Probably a rifle or a handgun. Nothing that could even sting the half-giant. He observed the door carefully and hit it just right to break it off its hinges, making it fall on the floor without breaking any other part of the precariously standing shack. Hagrid squeezed through the door, stooping so that his head wouldn't touch the ceiling. As he entered his eyes darted around, surveying the inhabitants. Vernon indeed held a rifle, Dudley was looking bewildered from his position on the sofa and Harry was sitting on the floor with only one small, ragged, cover for protection against the cold. He could hear Petunia in the other room. Knowing that no threat was present, he slowly turned around and fitted the door back into its frame, so as to keep what little warmth was present from fleeing. He turned back towards the room and noted that Petunia was now behind her husband, cowering. He inhaled slightly and put on his best accent.

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..." Hagrid strode over to the sofa where Dudley was. "Budge up, yeh great lump."

Hagrid found the sight of Dudley squeaking and running to his mother quite funny. It was rare for him to have that sort of effect on people.

"An' here's Harry!" He gave the boy a good look. Still scrawny. His body language screamed 'I am weak, push me over'. Hagrid refrained from sighing, and instead put on his best smile. He managed to make it reach his eyes, a feat he was quite proud of. His acting skills were excellent.

"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," he continued. "Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mom's eyes." More points for him. Harry clearly did not know about his parents. The Dursleys made it so easy to win over the boy, it was not even funny. As if to prove his point, Vernon made a funny rasping noise and declared "I demand that you leave at once, sir! You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune." Hagrid reached over the back of the sofa and ripped the gun out of the Dursley patriarch's hands. Scaring Vernon and entertaining Harry, the half-giant made a knot in the rifle. A bit of magic to ensure the gun did not break was all that was needed to achieve the desired effect. Vernon made another funny noise, similar to a dying mouse. Hagrid quickly turned around to Harry and made himself look harmless. It wouldn't do to appear too powerful and scary. He needed to appear as Harry's ally, not as someone who had power over him.

"Anyway – Harry. A very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right." Hagrid pulled a slightly squashed box from his black overcoat, which he gave to the young boy in front of him. Even though he could have put the cake in his special pockets, he always pretended he was oblivious and clumsy, a trait which was only accentuated when he 'accidentally' squashed things. He noticed the boy's trembling fingers and filed the information in his head for later use. Harry had clearly never received any gifts, and he would use that.

Harry opened the box to find the large chocolate cake the half-giant had gotten him. Hagrid could see the boy's grateful expression, even though the words that exited Harry's mouth were "Who are you?"

Hagrid chuckled. "True, I haven't introduced myself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts." He put his hand forward and shook Harry's whole arm. "What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind." The half-giant had already spotted the shrivelled bags of chips, but he felt like egging on Vernon. Reminding him subtly of his pitiful lack of resources was the best way to force the fat man's anger. Since Harry already liked him, the young boy would take his side against any attacks from the Dursleys, cementing their friendship. Hagrid then made sure to look directly at the shrivelled bags of chips and snorted. He could feel Vernon giving him the evil eye. The half-giant ignored him and instead bent down over the fire place, starting a roaring fire. He went back to the sofa and sat on it, making the moth-eaten thing sag under the weight.

The half-giant began rummaging through his pockets. He took out many things, to the amazement of the young boy in front of him. He had brought it all for exactly that effect. A copper kettle, several chipped mugs, a teapot and all the required material to make fireside sausages. He had also taken his favourite flask from which he took a swig. Water was boiling for the tea and the sausages were cooking. Hagrid burnt them slightly to keep his persona intact. After all, his rock cakes were very famous back at Hogwarts and it wouldn't do to have him be a great cook here. Harry wouldn't realize it, but Hagrid couldn't afford to lose his habits. He was frequently around two of the most observant wizards he had ever met, and he knew that it wouldn't take much to have either Dumbledore or Snape realizing Hagrid was a lot more than he let on. Thus, Hagrid tried his best to keep his act up at all times.

The silence around him made him wonder at the wisdom of keeping such a tight hold on his secret. Would it be worth it, a few years later, to have spent all this time pretending? He cut the train of thoughts as fast as it had come. No use dwelling on the past. Riddle would be dead in a few years and the world would be a better place for it. Of course it would be worth it. After that, he'd start anew someplace far away from the idiotic world that was magical Britain. He'd finally let himself be him, but only then.

His introspection was cut short by Vernon Dursley talking sharply to his son. "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."

The half-giant replied after chuckling darkly. "Yer great puddin' of a son don' need more fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry." He passed the sausages to Harry, who was eating them as if he had never tasted anything so wonderful. Hagrid knew that with the way he was treated at the Dursleys, it probably wasn't far from the truth and he resolved to give him a few gifts here and there. It would serve the dual purpose of making Harry happier and making them closer friends.

Harry decided to press on his previous line of enquiry, having not received what he considered an appropriate answer. "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are." Hagrid hid his smile at the boy finally growing a backbone behind a gulp of tea. He made a show of wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, to give him time to properly formulate his answer.

"Call me Hagrid, everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course." There. He had finally laid on the table the essence of his visit. When Harry would respond negatively, he could act full of righteous anger at the Dursleys and win the boy over once and for all.

"Er – no." Hagrid put on his best shocked expression and was rewarded by the Boy-Who-Lived replying quickly with a "Sorry." Hagrid had everyone present exactly where he wanted them. Harry feeling bad for his lack of knowledge, the Dursleys as the proverbial bad guys in Harry's eyes, and himself appearing as a general good guy that never seemed to become angry at anything. His indignation would be that more powerful to Harry's eyes.

"Sorry?" he barked, pointedly turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learned it all?"

"All what?" asked a confused Harry. Hagrid congratulated himself on his acting. He had been afraid that Harry might have been scared of his outburst, but he was pleased to know that his set up had had the opposite effect, as the boy took his side. He knew that now was the perfect time to turn to the Dursleys for answers.

"ALL WHAT?" he thundered. "Now wait jus' one second!" Before Harry could reply, he had leapt to his feet. He could read the terror in the Dursleys face as they cowered against the wall. "Do you mean ter tell me, that this boy – this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"

Hagrid swore internally. He had lost a bit of his accent in that last sentence, saying 'you' instead of 'yeh'. Thankfully, no one seemed to realize his slip up.

"I know some things." came the annoyed voice of the last Potter. Hagrid found it funny how the young boy sounded exactly like the James had when he was younger. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." Hagrid simply waved his hand. He knew right then and there exactly what to say. "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world." A brief mention of the boy's parents again. One last time before he could fully tackle the issue and the boy would trust him fully.

"What world?" Harry responded exactly as he had predicted.

"DURSLEY!" boomed the half-giant. He noted that Vernon had gone extremely pale. His acute hearing caught the "Mimblewimble" that came out of the Dursley patriarch's mouth. Turning to the young boy, the half-giant continued the conversation about the Potters.

"But yeh must know about yer mom and dad. I mean, they're famous. You're famous." He purposefully changed his expression to one of bewilderment, as if the notion of not knowing about the Potters didn't even make sense. Hagrid also had introduced the young boy to the concept of his fame. He needed for Harry to not be interested in fame. Fame would make Hagrid seem irrelevant in Harry's eyes. Furthermore, he would end up having trouble trusting that people actually wanted him instead of his fame which would make manipulating him close to impossible. Thus, Hagrid needed to know whether to break any fame seeking tendencies as soon as he met the youngest Potter. After all, James had been an attention seeking brat in his early days.

"What? My – my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?" There was an answer that made Hagrid think for a few seconds. The young boy in front of him didn't care about his fame. The fact that he had focused solely on the part about his parents' fame told him that much. He stalled for some more time to think of the appropriate approach by stammering. "Yeh don' know...yeh don' know..." He ran his fingers through his hair. Thankfully, fame didn't interest Harry. It would have been tedious to systematically demolish Harry's need for fame through his probably greater desire to please his now dead parents, and would have been equivalent to walking on thin ice, a task much harder for a half-giant. Hagrid decided to dismiss the idea of fame altogether lest Harry get any ideas, and instead seal the deal and get to the reason for his presence. He had just the right approach that would make Vernon react harshly.

"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said, loud enough for Vernon to hear. Hagrid knew that Vernon wouldn't want Harry to be made aware of his magical heritage, meaning that his words would trigger an outburst from the obese man which would allow him to conclude his mission of securing Harry's trust and admiration.

"Stop! Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!" Vernon appeared desperate. Hagrid almost burst into laughter at just how ridiculous this whole situation was. It was as if Harry's guardians were doing their best to make it easy for him. Calling Harry 'the boy', trying to prevent him from talking to someone he thought was cool. Of course Harry would take Hagrid's side! Were these Muggles idiots?

"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"

Vernon responded by yelling. "Stop! I FORBID YOU!"

"Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh. Harry – yer a wizard." Hagrid finally revealed the young boy's heritage. And with just that sentence, he secured the boy's position at his side.

"I'm a what?" Harry gasped. The half-giant's words had resonated with him, even though he failed to consciously understand exactly what it meant. Hagrid knew because of the way Harry gasped.

"A wizard, o' course. An' a thumpin' good 'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter." Subtly comparing Harry to his parents, praising his future skills and finally giving him the object he had sought for the past few days, his Hogwarts letter. Harry read the letter and Hagrid could read the questions the boy wanted to ask off his face.

"What does it mean, they await my owl?" He finally stammered.

"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me!" Hagrid slapped his head for dramatic effect, reinforcing his fool persona. Taking an unimpressed owl out of his pocket left no doubt. Playing the idiot was sometimes just too funny. He quickly scribbled a short message for Dumbledore, making sure Harry could read it upside down. He made sure to write the line 'Taking him to buy his things tomorrow' slightly larger and pausing to let it sink in the boy that he would not be abandoned here. He sent the owl, marking the end of the important part of the meeting. Hagrid had won Harry's admiration and friendship already. All that was left was closing the conversation and to set the pace for the following day.

The rest of the interaction passed by without much incident. Every time he had acted outraged at the Dursleys hiding information from the boy, he had scored invaluable points. Hogwarts, his parents, the car crash and even Voldemort (and he had to stop himself from laughing out loud when he had declared that he didn't know how to spell the name of his arch enemy). He had acted extremely sad about the Potters' deaths, and a part of him noted that most of his feelings weren't an act for that part. They really had been wonderful people. Smart, caring and deeply set on making the world a better place. Just another reason why Voldemort was a monster that had to be put down.

Harry had doubted it all for a second, but Hagrid reminded him of all the strange things he had made happen. Harry had smiled widely at that.

The half-giant had become tired of Vernon. Such a pitiful excuse for a man. One last outburst from him, lucky coincidence that he had insulted Dumbledore, and the half-giant had exploded in fake anger. A small hex and Dudley now sported a curly pink pig tail. When the Dursleys had left the room, after a quick joke about the Dursley pig, Hagrid had asked for a favour from Harry, another one of those psychological tricks that would make Harry like him and trust him more. Harry would keep the secret about Hagrid's use of magic. He was sure that the young boy would never tell on him, but even then, Dumbledore would have backed him up, making it only a token show of trust. Of course, Harry didn't know that.

Hagrid had also decided to share his darkest secret. The fact that he had been expelled from Hogwarts was not well known. Going through the detail of having had his wand snapped secured the boy's trust even more, since to him it appeared that Hagrid trusted him fully to share this specific detail, and that Hagrid was the underdog like himself. Harry felt a kinship with Hagrid having been unfairly mistreated in his youth which made the half-giant appear even better in his eyes. Of course, he couldn't share the reason behind his expulsion. So he had deflected Harry's final question and bade him goodnight. The next day would be quite intense for the boy after all, and it wouldn't do to have him too tired for his first meeting with the magical world.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN** : Many thanks to my beta TheNicanova for his constant contribution in both researching for this chapter and giving me awesome ideas. This story wouldn't be as good without him. This is by far the best chapter I've written. There's a lot of great stuff being set up and we're getting closer to some really interesting concepts. I plan on updating every two weeks, with short chapters like I've been posting so far. Anyway, enjoy this third chapter!

* * *

Hagrid almost laughed out loud when the young boy muttered to himself about it all being a dream. His world had been flipped upside down just the day before. It was endearing to hear him try to rationalize what had happened as just a dream. Of course, as soon as the boy would open his eyes, he'd see that Hagrid was still there and that there was an owl tapping at the window which, if the boy acted as he had predicted, would make Harry ecstatic. After all, some of his biggest fantasies were coming to reality.

The young Potter scrambled to his feet and ran to the window, jerking it open, confirming exactly how great he was feeling. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper it was carrying onto Hagrid, who pretended to still be sleeping in order to observe Harry some more. The owl, wanting payment, went to Hagrid's coat to take the money it was owed. Harry didn't understand what the owl wanted and tried to protect Hagrid's coat, which made the half-giant smile.

"Don't do that!" Harry said. "Hagrid! There's an owl - "

"Pay him." Hagrid grunted in the sofa, pretending to still be half asleep. In reality, he was smiling widely that Harry was asking for his help as soon as he encountered a little problem. It meant that the young boy trusted Hagrid implicitly. He was glad to see that the effect he had on the boy had lasted through the night. He was fairly confident that Harry's loyalty to him would stay forever, but he would make sure to strengthen it whenever the opportunity arose.

"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." Hagrid said. He wasn't scared that Harry would open his secret pocket, since it could only be opened by him, and possibly Dumbledore if the Headmaster was given enough time. But Hagrid was worried that Harry might try to steal from him, a trait he had learned was shared by many mistreated children.

Upon realizing that the young boy had not been treated appropriately by the Dursleys, Hagrid had done some research on child abuse psychology. Sifting through the problematic coping mechanism, he had learned that some kids took up stealing as a cry for help. Thus, Hagrid had devised a few tests to make sure that Harry wouldn't steal. Most of the other possible coping mechanisms would be remedied through making friends and being surrounded by caring people, so Hagrid wasn't as worried about those. After all, Hogwarts was the perfect place for that, assuming no Dark lord in the making framed you for murder. Furthermore, since Dumbledore believed the prophecy meant that only Harry could defeat the Dark lord, the ancient Headmaster would undoubtedly personally tutor Harry in magic which would boost his confidence and overall happiness. Hagrid would also be on the side to give his own support which would take care of any other lingering problems.

Which is why Hagrid needed to be able to trust Harry. He planned on inviting Harry to his house often, or at least make it so that Harry came to see him. It could be devastating to have the boy steal some innocuous looking ring or stone that was actually one of Voldemort's Horcrux that Hagrid had hid in plain sight. It was also very important for Harry to not steal from Gringotts, since that would be terrible for both the boy and Hagrid's plans. The goblins were known to be unforgiving. Thus, Hagrid needed to know as soon as possible how much attention he'd have to pay to the boy during their exploration of Diagon Alley. If the boy had a tendency to steal, Hagrid would have to make sure he would not.

Harry shifted through all the available pockets, before finding the coins. Hagrid explained which ones were Knuts and told Harry to take five out. He did not explain any more, seeing as how their trip to Gringotts would be a much better time and place for an explanation as to how money worked. Hagrid made Harry pay for another reason altogether than to check if the young boy would steal from him. Hagrid wanted to make Harry do things for him whenever possible for a threefold reason. First, it would give the boy some confidence. Second, Hagrid wanted to be able to direct Harry towards specific actions, and instilling the habit of doing things for Hagrid would simplify this greatly. And third, doing something for someone made you trust them more. As soon as Harry had paid, Hagrid told the boy to get ready to leave.

"Um – Hagrid?" Harry asked after the owl had left. Hagrid grunted questioningly in response, while putting on his boots. "I haven't got any money – and you heard Uncle Vernon last night...he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."

Almost exactly as Hagrid had predicted. Even though this seemed to imply that Harry wasn't one to try to steal, Hagrid wasn't completely convinced. After all, Tom Riddle had been charming as well as a young boy, and Hagrid definitely saw some parallels between the Dark lord and the Boy-Who-Lived. It would have been easy to simply tell the boy that he was rich much earlier, but if it came from Harry feeling depressed at his misfortune, the high he would get from being told he had money left from his parents would be associated to Hagrid, which would tighten their bond. It wasn't much, but Hagrid knew that it was in compounding his manipulations that he was the most skillful. Even one aware of the concepts of manipulation like Snape just couldn't see through such an accumulation of small little seemingly innocent actions. And Hagrid has spent his whole life accumulating such little connections with the likes of Dumbledore and McGonagall. His technique was tried and true. It wouldn't fail to make the Boy-Who-Lived trust him completely.

Hagrid told Harry about Gringotts, the wizards' bank. He told him about the goblins that ran the bank to which Harry responded questioningly, having never heard of goblins. Hagrid decided to warn Harry off of stealing anything from the bank. He'd repeat that a few times to make sure Harry internalized it.

"Yeah – so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts." Hagrid suppressed a groan at his own words. Dumbledore was playing a dangerous game, bringing the stone into Hogwarts. But Hagrid knew that Voldemort could actually pull off a theft at Gringotts pretty easily. After all, a quick Imperio and some Polyjuice was all that was needed to get into any vault. Especially with the lax security that was enforced these days. People were getting complacent without any active threats, something Alastor Moody always pointed out. "As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." Hagrid was proud, but not for the reason Harry thought. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you – gettin' things from Gringotts – he knows he can trust me, see." It was true that Hagrid was actually proud of that. Not because of Dumbledore's approval, but because it meant that he had succeeded so well in his subterfuge that he had slipped under the notice of the one considered to be the greatest wizard of their time. Hagrid appeared to agree with everything Dumbledore said or did, mostly because of everything the Headmaster had done for him. This made him Dumbledore's most trusted assistant since, unlike McGonagall, he wouldn't act on his own without consulting the Headmaster. He knew that McGonagall would have been outraged at the Dursleys treatments of Harry and would have tried to find him another place to live. But Hagrid would not do a thing like that, which is why Dumbledore often favoured the half-giant over all others, and it was why Hagrid was proud of his act. It was a testament to his skill that even the only wizard that Voldemort feared hadn't noticed Hagrid's deception. Ironically enough, Hagrid thought, he was the only wizard that Voldemort should fear. It made a strange sort of triangle. Hagrid, who had plotted Voldemort's first downfall and was now actively working towards his second and last, was trusted completely by Dumbledore, the only wizard Voldemort feared.

"Got everythin'? Come on, then." Hagrid said, relieved that no more than five Knuts were missing from his coat. Harry had not stolen anything. Hagrid left the hut, followed closely by Harry. Hagrid noticed Harry looking around, trying to find how the half-giant had managed to get to the hut-on-the-rock. Of course, Hagrid had Sirius Black's motorcycle, shrunk to fit in his special pocket, along with his various other favoured methods of transportation. The half-giant had made a habit of transporting various magical methods of transportation ever since the war, since most wards countered only one way at a time: either Anti-Apparition or Anti-Portkey or Anti-broomstick. Having more than one way out had assured that Hagrid could always manage to escape the wards before they were all in place.

"How did you get here?" he asked, finding no clue as to how Hagrid had arrived at the hut-on-the-rock.

"Flew." Hagrid said, as if that explained everything. Harry would try to imagine that and it would make him seem powerful. Though it wouldn't do to have the boy dwell on that too much. Hagrid would show him some magic while also getting him to promise not to tell anyone. Nothing builds trust more than sharing a secret. The best part was that Hagrid was sharing the same secret again, but Harry wouldn't realize that.

"Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh. Seems a shame ter row, though." Hagrid gave Harry a sideways look, as if they were co-conspirators. Setting up the right mood always helped in situations like these. He had cast the same look the first time he had asked Harry to keep his usage of magic secret and it had worked perfectly. "If I was ter – er – speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?" Harry would also be eager to see more magic making this simple remark another double manipulation. Harry agreed and Hagrid tapped the boat twice with his umbrella. Hagrid was well aware that he was taking the Dursleys' only way off the island. Furthermore, the Dursleys had little to no food and water. Harry either had not realized this, or he did not care. This made Hagrid slightly worried for Harry's intellectual and emotional integrity. Either he hadn't realized, meaning that Harry paid no attention to his surroundings which Hagrid could use to his advantage, or he didn't care and Hagrid would have to make sure the boy wasn't sorted into Slytherin. If his information was correct, today was the day the Malfoys would go to Diagon Alley, along with the Notts. If Harry was to meet one of those two families, Hagrid could easily make it so that Harry would not like his first impression of these families, which would simplify any manipulations away from Slytherin.

The boat started moving forward, pushed by Hagrid's spell. Since Harry did not know about the need of a wand to focus a wizard's magic, he did not ask any questions about how Hagrid could cast spells. The answer was very simple: his wand was hidden inside his umbrella. It was one of his most inspiring accomplishment. Hagrid needed to keep his ability to do magic, but had a broken wand. Wands normally couldn't be repaired, at least not anywhere close to as good as they had been before, so he had to find another way. The Ministry kept a tight hold over all new wands, so stealing one was out of the question if he wanted to remain anonymous. And even if he managed it, odds were that the new wand would not be suited for him. After all, his was one of the longest wands ever made, and any replacement wand would need to share most of the old wand's properties. Hagrid decided that he'd have to come up with another plan. That was when inspiration struck him: he could make a new wand with the broken pieces of his old wand. Since it was twice as long as normal ones, each piece could be used as a new wand. They wouldn't be as suited for him as his wand had been, due to the difference in length, but it would be a vast improvement over not being able to cast any magic. He had spent countless hours finding the perfectly innocent looking object that he could carry with him at all times, an object shaped kind of like a wand, but with a use that didn't revolve around pointing, and he had found it. A pink umbrella. It took him many months of careful handling of very small objects, but Hagrid emerged with a new wand unlike any the world had seen before and more hidden knowledge on wand making than he ever thought he'd acquire. It was about half as effective as his old wand had been, being made of only half of the pieces, which was a testament to his skill since only those trained in the ancient craft of wand making had ever made an effective wand. With his pink umbrella, Hagrid could continue to practice magic as he pleased, which he did for many years until Dumbledore showed up at his house.

The Headmaster brought with him a wand that he had described as having finally mastered. He had asked Hagrid if the half-giant wanted his wand repaired, since Dumbledore felt somewhat guilty that he had not been able to prevent Hagrid's expulsion. Hagrid had done little to disabuse him of that notion. The Headmaster had stated that Hagrid wouldn't be able to own a wand, but that if he could find another object, Dumbledore could and would make it so that the object could serve as his new wand. Hagrid had shown the Headmaster his pink umbrella, which already contained half of his wand and was rewarded by twinkling eyes. The half-giant had acted bashful, pretending to be nervous at having used magic, but he knew that Dumbledore would react positively to his resourcefulness. An inward spiralling motion later, and Hagrid's umbrella could cast magic stronger than ever, having been repaired by the Elder Wand.

With his countless hours of practice, Hagrid could boast to be one of the few masters of nonverbal magic. Most people could only cast the few spells they were most familiar with, but not Hagrid. He had his entire repertoire down, save a few high end spells that just needed the extra focus. It wouldn't do to burn out his wand only to show off. It was this mastery that allowed him to cast a charm on the boat without a sound. Of course, Harry wouldn't really understand what he had been showed, but Hagrid thought it was always a good idea to practice.

"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked, interrupting Hagrid's train of thought. Even though Hagrid was confident that Harry would not try to steal, he decided to give Harry an overview of some of the defences in place at the wizards' only bank.

"Spells – enchantments." Hagrid replied offhand, while taking out his newspaper. He explained further measures while he kept sifting through the Daily Prophet. He could see Harry's desire to ask so many questions, but the young boy appeared to not want to bother Hagrid while he was reading. Hagrid decided this was the best time to bring up the Ministry of Magic. Since Harry wanted to ask questions, it would be best to answer some questions the boy had. Hagrid decided that any enquiries would be about topics which would help him further his plans. In this case: the Ministry. But good old Fudge had apparently not been in office the day before, since Hagrid did not find any signs of the usual incompetence. Still, Hagrid did not want Harry to trust the Minister.

"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual." he muttered loud enough for Harry to hear. Harry would think that Hagrid was referencing the newspaper, when in reality he had just made it up.

"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry blurted out.

"'Course." Hagrid said, thinking of how to bring forth the idea he wanted to plant in Harry's mind. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore every morning, askin' fer advice." There. The Minister appeared incompetent, Dumbledore appeared wise, but also solely focused on Hogwarts. Hagrid tried his best to always remain consistent in his world views, so as to not make a mistake when it truly counted.

"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?" Harry asked. Hagrid thought this was a good question. The Ministry was in charge of a lot of things, from regulating cauldron thickness to taking care of relations with magical creatures. Some Ministries had competent officials, even though most of those were completely biased towards pure-bloods that it bordered on ridiculous, but most Ministries had incompetent personnel. Take Arthur Weasley, for example. A very kind and gentle man that would have done well in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. But he was taking care of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts section of the Ministry, and the man didn't even know what a telephone was. That was how most of the Ministry was run. Hagrid decided that a simple answer would be best. It would display the selfishness and prejudice against Muggles that permeated the Ministry, while also being factually correct. Subtle propaganda was one of Hagrid's tools. Hagrid sped up the boat so that Harry wouldn't have time to enquire much more, leaving Harry with only the information Hagrid wanted him to have.

"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's witches an' wizards up an' down the country." he said.

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we're best left alone." Hagrid exclaimed, using his tone of voice to project that this was the Minister's official stance and that he was just repeating it. Just as Harry was about to ask more questions, the boat bumped gently into the harbour wall. Exactly as Hagrid wanted it. Harry would be left unable to explore why the Ministry of Magic didn't want to help Muggles and he'd end up accepting it. Maybe not now, but Hagrid was sure that there would be more chances to grow the seed he had just planted. The best part was that Harry would see the unfairness in the Ministry's stance. After all, everyone wanting magical solutions to problems was not a valid reason to not offer some magical help to those in need. Since Harry would end up accepting that the people in charge of the magical world, he would be wary of trusting a group of people that had a mentality directly opposed to his. The half-giant did not want Harry to have anything to do with the Ministry. Hagrid needed Harry to distrust Fudge and his gang of incompetents. It would be useful later.

After disembarking from their little boat, Hagrid mentally commanded it to return to the Dursleys through his spell. Even though he did not like them, Harry would need to recharge his protections and the only person that magic would consider as his blood relative was Petunia. Having them die of starvation now could potentially ruin his plan. But not harming them in no way implied that he couldn't scare them. Hagrid found that making them believe that they were stuck on that little island was the funniest way to make them suffer for the way they treated Harry. Paired with the fact that when the boat would arrive back at the hut-on-the-rock, the Dursleys who were afraid of magic would be too scared to use it, made this whole scenario hilarious to him. He wondered if they would realize the irony that without the magic that Hagrid used to send the boat back to them, the Dursley family would have been stuck on the island with no means to leave.

Both wizards walked through the streets of whatever small town they were in. Hagrid only knew that there was a train station with a train that led to London, to which they were headed. When Harry asked about dragons at Gringotts, Hagrid explained that he had wanted one ever since he was a kid. When they reached the train station, Hagrid noted that they had five minutes left before the train he had planned on taking departed. He made Harry buy the ticket, pretending to have no idea how Muggle money worked. In truth, he knew money perfectly well, but he just wanted to give Harry a few responsibilities to make him appear more important.

With the tickets bought and both wizards on the train, the half-giant started knitting some covers for his bed. He had nothing to do during this train ride, and knitting usually calmed him down, making his mind sharper. It was meditation, of a sort and a good way for him to maintain his hard earned dexterity that often came in very handy. Hagrid asked the young boy if he still had his Hogwarts letter.

"Good." Hagrid said as Harry took it out of his pocket. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."

Hagrid looked at Harry's awed face as the Boy-Who-Lived read his list of school supplies.

"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud.

Hagrid chuckled at that. "If yeh know where to go." he said mysteriously, before resuming his knitting. Harry decided to keep quiet for the rest of the train ride, probably thinking about all he had learned so far. Soon, they'd reach London, and Hagrid would finally introduce Harry to Diagon Alley.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN** : Hey all. Early super short chapter, and a very short bonus Omake at the end. I'm publishing this early because I'm going to be switching to Saturday updates, still every two weeks, and I managed to get more writing done in that I thought.

Not a lot happening in this chapter, mostly a set up for the fifth chapter, but I've had a lot of fun writing it. Enjoy it!

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Upon their arrival in London, Hagrid took the lead. He pretended to have no idea how to operate in the Muggle world, similar to how most wizards acted. Hagrid was annoyed by his own act. How could wizards be so stupid that they were confused by money of all things. One hundred pence to the pound. That's it. There was nothing mystical about it. And yet, for some strange reason that escaped him, most wizards could not grasp Muggle money. It was as if there was an ongoing competition between all wizards as to who understood Muggles the least. Maybe the decimalization of the pound in 1971 had confused the older wizards, who were used to 20 shillings to the pound, and 12 pence to the shilling, for a total of 240 pence to the pound. It's not like the wizard money made much more sense with 17 Sickles to a Galleon and 29 Knuts to the Sickle for a total of 493 Knuts to the Galleon. Prime numbers were probably the least effective way to divide money, yet no wizard was confused when they bought a total of 371 Knuts worth of things which took a mental effort to divide by 29 to arrive at 12 sickles, and now the remainder needed to be found, and so subtracting twelve times 29 from 371 which resulted in 23 Knuts. Hagrid almost yelled out in frustration when, being distracted by his thoughts, he got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground.

He stopped his train of thought when they sat in the much too small seats and complained as he had seen some obese Muggles do. The Hagrid he portrayed would not think that the seats were designed to fit the average Muggle and not a half-giant.

"I don't know how Muggles manage without magic." he said as they exited the Underground. Hagrid made use of his size to part the crowd, making sure Harry stayed close behind him as they made their way to the Leaky Cauldron. They reached their destination a few minutes later.

"This is it, the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place." Hagrid said. He noticed Harry looking at the people around in confusion and then staring intently at the pub. Hagrid thought that Harry was more observant than he let on, which contrasted with his earlier lack of observation in regards to the Dursleys being stuck on the island. He made a mental note to definitely steer Harry clear of Slytherin and guided the young boy inside before he could ask any questions about the magic that made the Leaky Cauldron invisible to Muggles.

As everyone smiled and waved at him, Hagrid's eyes jumped straight to Quirinus Quirrell, who was sitting alone in a corner. He was the only unusual customer for this time of day, which put Hagrid on guard. While the bartender asked him if he wanted his usual, Hagrid saw Quirrell's eyes widen when he noticed them, before his face returned to a neutral expression. He filed that information in his head as further evidence. "Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid said, clapping Harry's shoulder to show Tom exactly what his business was. Hagrid was pretending to show off, proud of being asked to take care of the Boy-Who-Lived, but in reality he was working on two things. Making Harry even more afraid of his celebrity status, and trying to find more evidence to either confirm or contradict his hypothesis.

Hagrid did not trust Quirrell. The man had always been weak of will and had always sought for ways to prove himself. If Voldemort's spirit wanted to recruit someone to get into Hogwarts, Quirinus was the perfect candidate. And Merlin knew the amount of incentive that was present to bait Voldemort back to Hogwarts. There was the Philosopher's Stone, that he would want to steal for the Elixir of Life. Furthermore, it was the first year that Harry would be outside of the protection offered by the blood wards, meaning that any attempts on his life could occur as soon as this year. It was thus crucial for Hagrid to remain as vigilant as possible.

The old Muggle Studies professor had taken a year long sabbatical to supposedly travel through Europe and gain first-hand experience. According to Hagrid's information though, he had ended up in Albania, where rumours placed Voldemort's spirit. Instead of returning with increased confidence, he had been changed for the worst. He seemed less competent with his wand and he stuttered to an almost ridiculous extent. He had stuttered before, but never as much as he did now, which made Hagrid think that Quirrell was pulling an act, a very bad one at that. Hagrid thought that there were a few likely scenarios, most of them revolved around Quirrell trying to steal the Philosopher's stone.

Hagrid had another hypothesis, one that he did not like one bit. It was entirely possible that the Quirinus had been abducted and his hair was being used for Polyjuice. That hypothesis was the scariest one since it introduced an unknown into Hagrid's plan, an element that he could in no way predict. Voldemort and Quirrell were both pretty straight forward in their approaches, but a third party could put a wrench in his plans. Hagrid was not sure exactly whether or not it was for personal gain or if he worked for Voldemort or even if the man was actually Quirinus Quirrell. But the half-giant would figure out exactly what the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor was up to.

One distinct possibility that Hagrid wanted to rule out as soon as possible was whether Quirinus was possessed by Voldemort. According to Hagrid's research, a wizard with a Horcrux needed to possess someone in order to be resurrected, making it a very likely possibility. But Hagrid further knew that the blood magic that protected Harry was still strong, meaning that if Voldemort came in direct contact with Harry, there would be a reaction of some sort, just like the previous widening of his eyes, but more severe. The half-giant, being an astute observer, would be able to see it fairly easily and act accordingly. Thus, as soon as he had seen Quirrell in the pub, he had made sure that Harry became the centre of attention. If Quirrell approached without any adverse effect, Hagrid would have to figure out the man's allegiance as either a servant of his own greed or of Voldemort. But if he did not approach when everyone else did, it would be evidence towards the idea that Quirrell was being possessed by Voldemort, since the Dark Lord would not risk coming into direct contact with Harry without some knowledge about what had happened ten years prior.

Everyone in the pub swarmed Harry, but Hagrid paid them only little attention. He knew them all and he was confident they would not do anything. He was focused on Quirrell, though no one would have been able to realize that. After four fans, it was Professor Quirrell's turn and Hagrid introduced him as a Hogwarts professor. He shook Harry's hand without so much as a flinch. That dramatically reduced the probability that he was possessed by Riddle's spirit. Hagrid would have to come up with further tests to determine who Quirrell was working for. His intuition was set on Voldemort, but Hagrid knew not to make up his mind about an idea too fast, because a classic failure mode was looking for evidence that confirmed your hypothesis and dismissing any contradicting it. It was called the confirmation bias, which Hagrid had found to be a cognitive bias in his reading of Muggle psychology. They had figured out a lot of very interesting and useful things. As people swarmed Harry, Hagrid decided to let the show run on for another few minutes, pretending to be unable to break the crowd surrounding the boy before finally raising his voice. It would give the boy a negative idea of what it meant to be famous, which would steer him further from that path.

"Must get on – lots ter buy. Come on, Harry." he finally said, taking the boy before the wall leading to Diagon Alley. "Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh – mind you, he's usually tremblin'." Hagrid said with a smile.

"Is he always that nervous?" Harry asked in reply, which Hagrid found very funny. Quirrell had never been this bad, but he had always been a nervous man.

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was studyin' outta books, but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience..." Hagrid explained to Harry a few of the hypothesis that surrounded Quirrell's misadventures. After he finished his overview of the rumours surrounding Quirrell's trip, Hagrid took out his umbrella and pretended to count the bricks on the wall. He knew the specific brick by heart, but he wasn't counting for his sake. Harry needed to know how to get into Diagon Alley for the day that he would come back by himself. So Hagrid said "Three up...two across...", making sure Harry heard him, before tapping the right brick three times with his umbrella, his body out of the way so that Harry could see. A few seconds later and the brick wall had been replaced by an archway leading straight to Diagon Alley.

Hagrid had been here many times before, and so paid little attention to the shops. The magical world had so few innovations that weren't brooms in terms of useful magical objects that it was basically pointless to be on the lookout for new items. Instead, he told Harry that getting money came first, and then they could buy his supplies. A few minutes later found them both in front of a snowy white building, taller than all the others. At the door stood a goblin.

"Yeah, that's a goblin." Hagrid said, making sure that Harry would not ask any insensitive questions like ' _Why is that person so ugly?_ ' or ' _Professor, what's wrong with him?_ ' he had heard from a couple Muggle-borns. He had nothing against them, but the new students that had no connection to the magical world usually lacked any of the tact that most wizards were taught to have. The goblin bowed and Hagrid smiled. Their trip to Gringotts would surely be very exciting. Hagrid would soon get to try the vaults' defences and get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone.

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 **Omake** : Hagrid's fist hit the door with tremendous force, collapsing the precariously standing hut-on-the-rock in a single blow. "Oops, I should not have done that!"


	5. Chapter 5

**AN** : This chapter was much harder to write than expected. I had to keep changing things to make sure the details fit with the rest of the story, and that was not easy. If writing keeps happening at a good pace, you might end up seeing chapter 6 earlier than expected, since it's almost done. I'm really excited about it! I think it'll be the best chapter I've written so far. Also, there are 2 new Omakes in which regular Hagrid makes some appearances, since this chapter is short. Anyway, enjoy and please review. Any constructive comment is really appreciated!

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Dozens upon dozens of goblins sat on high stools behind the long counter. Hagrid's eyes took in the whole scene and mentally contrasted it with every single one of his previous visits. He noticed that there were slightly more goblins than usual. This was normal since many wizards brought their children shopping near the beginning of the school year. There also seemed to be more goblin guards than usual; a fact that, according to the patterns he had discerned, made him believe that the Thief's Downfall was not active that day. He knew quite a lot about the powerful enchantments in place to defend Gringotts. This time, he wanted to be sure whether or not any of them could beat the effects of Polyjuice. The reason for this enquiry was that he had heard that Gringotts had an enchantment that could revert a Polyjuiced wizard back to their original appearance. He had thus devised a very ingenious plan. In his pocket was stored a bottle containing Polyjuice in which he had put some of his own hair.

Hagrid had tested what happened to Polyjuice when hair took from his own body was used. The transformation still took effect, leaving the half-giant looking like himself, but it did not take into account any change that had occurred since the hair had been taken. He had found that particular result quite surprising, but in the end purely academic. It wasn't until many years later that Hagrid had heard of the enchantment which could purportedly counteract the effects of Polyjuice. Since he had always been a strong believer that any sufficiently clever wizard could do anything, he wanted to know if his simple plan of Polyjuice and Imperio was enough to steal from Gringotts, or if he'd have to modify it. He already knew how to get the imperius curse past the Thief's Downfall, the only enchantment known to beat the Unforgivable, but he needed to know if the use of Polyjuice was detected.

Even though he believed that the Thief's Downfall was inactive, he would still take a sip from his flask. Since the day he had taken the hair for his potion, he had acquired a new scar on his hand from handling a Hippogriff. This meant that, under the Polyjuice, Hagrid was slightly different than he was normally; his disguised self not having the scar. This would allow him and only him to notice instantly whether or not any of Gringotts defences removed his disguise. Furthermore, he had an excuse in case the enchantment had an alarm associated to it. Half-giants often react differently to various magical effects. He could thus claim that his heritage had probably interfered with the Thief's Downfall, activating its alarm.

Hagrid and Harry made their way to an unoccupied Goblin. "Morning. We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe." The goblin asked for Harry's key and Hagrid sifted through his pockets, "accidentally" scattering a handful of mouldy biscuits over the goblin's book. Those mouldy biscuits contained a very powerful enchantment that could copy any thing they touched. The half-giant had adapted it from the Gemino curse, but the mechanics were completely different. When the cookies contacted a specific object, they absorbed the information of the composition of that object. Fifteen minutes would see them reassembled into its perfect copy. The downside was that if one biscuit did not land on the desired item, parts of the information would be missing resulting in the duplicate being incomplete. Hagrid had once more applied his signature trick of using the least threatening object possible in which to hide his tricks, similar to what he had done with his wand.

"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore." Hagrid said importantly as the cookies absorbed the information from the book. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

As the goblin read the letter carefully, Hagrid started taking his dog biscuits back in his Undetectable Extended pocket. This would allow them to coalesce together to create a copy of the book the goblin had.

"Very well. I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!" The teller called another goblin to escort them. Hagrid finished scooping the last of his biscuits and followed Griphook, with Harry close behind.

"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked. The half-giant smiled. He had hoped for that question. Hagrid wanted Harry to be curious about the mysteries happening at Hogwarts since the half-giant needed the Chamber of Secrets to open once more. Either Hagrid would succeed in making Harry interested in the Chamber, or Voldemort would come back and open it again. The half-giant was not at all preoccupied by the first possibility. He was confident he could spark Harry's interest. The second possibility worried him a little more: there was a very high chance of him being sent to Azkaban if Slytherin's Basilisk claimed Hogwarts as its hunting ground a second time. Hagrid knew he had to play it in a way that maximized Harry's desire to investigate.

"Can't tell yeh that. Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that." he said mysteriously. Nothing made a boy more curious than telling him that what he wanted to know was a secret.

Griphook held the door for them and they entered a narrow passageway lit with flaming torches. Hagrid took a swig from his special flask, and he transformed. It was so subtle since he was changing into himself, that no one noticed a thing. He made sure to check for his scar periodically during their visit. Griphook whistled and a cart arrived. Everyone climbed on, though Hagrid had some difficulty.

Polyjuice potion was designed for humans. As such, Hagrid's half-giant body tried to reject the potion. This made it last shorter than average and had the unintended side effect of making him very dizzy and sick. Combined with the crazy cart ride and Hagrid was feeling horrible. Luckily for him, the half-giant didn't need to memorize the way to the vaults since the dog biscuits were currently adding to his collection of books detailing Gringotts' vaults. He believed that Lucius and Bellatrix had both been tasked with keeping a Horcrux, being the Dark Lord's most faithful followers. Sadly, he could neither confirm his suspicions, nor had he found the dark objects.

Harry asked for the difference between stalagmites and stalactites, and Hagrid found that he didn't particularly care in his current state. "Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it. An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm going to be sick." Thankfully, they arrived at Harry's vault and Hagrid crawled out and leaned against the wall to stop his knees from shaking. He really hated having to take Polyjuice. He observed Griphook unlocking the door using Harry's key. Green smoke billowed out of the vault, and Hagrid wondered what could possibly be causing the green smoke. Were the goblins trying to impress their customers? Hagrid did not feel any magical property to the smoke and decided that it was probably something as simple as showmanship. He managed to get his trembling under control, and smiled at his charge.

"All yours." he said to Harry, as the piles upon piles of money came into view. Hagrid helped Harry pile some of the money into the boy's bag, relishing at his marvelled expression. He explained the money system to Harry, 29 Knuts to the Sickle, 17 Sickles to the Galleon. He then turned towards Griphook and told the Goblin to bring them to vault seven hundred and thirteen.

"And can we go more slowly?" he practically begged. He did not want to feel like he did during the previous cart ride. He mentally made a note that Polyjuice was out of the question for any attempts at Gringotts. His reaction to the cart's erratic movements was just too hard on him. The goblin's nasty grin as he said "One speed only." made Hagrid want to destroy him. He reluctantly entered the cart again and the two wizards, along with their goblin escort, hurtled deeper and deeper into the bank. When Harry leaned over the edge of the cart to look down, Hagrid quickly grabbed him and pulled him back in. He did not believe the rumour that someone had once fallen off and had never been found, but he did not want to risk it with the Boy-Who-Lived. After a much too long cart ride, in Hagrid's opinion, they arrived at their destination.

The vault had no keyhole, as was usual for high security vault. It meant that no one could enter without the approval of a goblin. Hagrid carefully looked at how Griphook unlocked the door, noting how the goblin stroked it with one finger, making it vanish.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there." the goblin said.

"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked in reply, which Hagrid thought was an interesting question.

"About once every ten years." Hagrid found Griphook's nasty grin quite hilarious. He was tempted to repeat his line that messing with goblins was not to be done, but Harry seemed to get the message on his own. Hagrid picked up the package containing the Stone and tucked it in his special coat pocket. He saw that Harry wanted to ask a question, and was happy when the boy stopped himself. Harry did not want to put Hagrid in a bad spot of having to refuse to answer his questions.

"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back. It's best if I keep me mouth shut." Hagrid said, entering the cart first.

As the cart made its way back to the top, Hagrid meditated on Gringotts' defences. He only had suspicions, but the half-giant wanted to be prepared. Most wizards thought of the bank as one of the best places to secure their valuables. This meant that Gringotts most certainly contained useful artefacts, just as it had held the Philosopher's Stone. Hagrid estimated a high chance that he would have to break in at some point; to steal an object of unique power he might need, or maybe even a hidden Horcrux. But Hagrid was not a person to charge in anywhere without a plan. As such, he made it a point to always prod the defences that were set in place by the goblins; to make sure that if he ever needed something from Gringotts, he would be able to just waltz right in and take it.

With the wild cart ride done, Hagrid and Harry found themselves outside. As Hagrid's eyes adjusted to the brightness, he saw his scar reappearing and deduced that Gringotts had no passive way of detecting Polyjuice. The half-giant felt his Sneakoscope vibrate from one of his pockets. He looked around at who might have caused this, but couldn't find anyone. Harry seemed excited at the prospect of spending a bit of his money, but Hagrid had some pressing matters to attend to and had little time in which to do them. He decided that it was best if he let Harry do his own shopping. It would give the boy a little independence of action. A trunk was the obvious first buy since every subsequent item could be stored in it. Just as he was about to send Harry off to buy his trunk, he spotted the Malfoy patriarch exiting Knockturn Alley. They were headed straight for Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. That must have been what had set his Sneakoscope off; it always lit up whenever he was around Lucius Malfoy. It was as if the man was always up to no good. The half-giant decided to direct Harry towards the same place Draco would be. That would hopefully indirectly push the Boy-Who-Lived away from Slytherin.

"Might as well get yer uniform." he said, nodding toward Madam Malkin's shop. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." His Polyjuice disguise was over, but he kept acting like he still felt a little sick in order to have some time alone. Harry agreed and left towards the shop to buy his robes. Hagrid smiled widely. It was time for testing and getting some ice cream.

* * *

 **AN** : These Omakes will usually not involve smart!Hagrid. It's mostly just silly situations that pop through my head that I find funny or interesting.

 **Omake** : Surprisingly enough, the cart was actually faster on its way up. Hagrid felt every bump and every turn amplified until he just could not bear it anymore: he threw up.

Luckily for Harry, most of it ended up on Griphook. Unluckily for Hagrid, the goblin was furious beyond words. The half-giant stammered out a quick apology and tried to take out one of his giant handkerchiefs. Unluckily for Griphook, Hagrid went for the wrong pocket and ended up taking out a whole bunch of mouldy dog biscuits. In his clumsiness, he accidentally covered the goblin with them.

Hagrid's hand went for another pocket to try to fix his mistake, but he was not used to his coat being so full of things. Just as he opened the pocket, Griphook abruptly stopped the cart, sending the contents flying out and into the abyss. Hagrid watched helplessly as the Philosopher's Stone was sent sailing into the bowels of Gringotts, from where nothing had ever returned. The goblin had murder written in his eyes, Harry wasn't sure whether be disgusted or to laugh and Hagrid broke down crying. "I should not have done that!"

 **Omake 2** : When Harry leaned over the edge of the cart to look down, Hagrid decided that he would have to teach the boy a lesson about the dangers of the magical world. He tried to grab the boy, intent on preventing him from falling over, but just as Hagrid's hand connected with Harry, the cart turned sharply and Hagrid ended up pushing the Boy-Who-Lived out of the cart. Harry went tumbling head over heels out of the cart and into nothingness. Luckily for both, Gringotts was warded against that sort of accident and, through some ancient magic, Harry ended up falling right back into the cart from above, shaken but uninjured. Even though Harry tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault, Hagrid was inconsolable. For the rest of their Gringotts visit, the friendly half-giant kept repeating the same words under his breath. "I should not have done that, I should not have done that."


	6. Chapter 6

**AN** : This chapter was a lot of fun to write, which is why I managed to finish it earlier than expected. I'd like to extend special thanks again to TheNicanova for helping me with this chapter. His help is greatly appreciated. Further thanks go to Tannay and katriofniflheim for their help with the story in general. Chapter 7 should be online in 2 weeks. In the mean time, enjoy the sixth instalment of I shouldn't have told you that!

* * *

Hagrid stepped into the Leaky Cauldron and told Tom that he was headed for the bathroom. His mind absently noted that Quirrell was no longer present in the bar. As soon as he was out of sight, he whipped out his umbrella along with a little wooden box. The latter was carved with intricate designs that seemed to span its whole surface: runes. The magical device had first been invented by the Marauders as a prank item, but Hagrid had immediately seen the potential. He tapped it with his umbrella and the box began emitting loud, grunting noises. Every once in a while, extremely loud farting sounds could be heard. Hagrid immediately pulled out the Stone and a one centimetre cube made of lead. He placed the Stone on top of the cube and pressed his wand against it, clearing his mind to attempt a forbidden transfiguration. The effects were immediate; the cube transformed to gold. Hagrid smiled, paying no attention to the noise that the box was making. He took out a larger cube, this time six inches in all dimensions. He repeated the test and found that again, the results were immediate. A quick charm confirmed that the cube was solid gold. This left no doubt that what he had was indeed the true Philosopher's Stone. He put the cubes back into his special pocket. Hagrid could easily lift the one hundred and fifty pound block, but it would look awkward if he were to carry it without the use of the Feather-light Charm on his pocket that made it practically weightless.

With his tests surrounding the transfiguration capabilities of the Stone finished, he quickly took out a vial containing distilled water. He put the Stone inside it for exactly one minute. In his coat pocket lay a dormouse that was ill and on the brink of death. He undid the Stasis spell and administered a small dose of the Elixir to the dormouse. Hagrid was surprised that no more than five seconds later, it was as alert as it had been in its prime. A quick Diagnostic Charm determined that the dormouse was in perfect health. The Charm's output was literally 'Perfectly Healthy'. It was the first time Hagrid had ever seen such a result, and the Elixir had only been exposed to the Stone for one minute. He wondered if he could make it more potent through longer exposure, but filed that enquiry away for later.

It was time for the final test. He took out a knife and cut himself on his left arm. His half-giant heritage made it so that it did not hurt much, but the damage was still present. He took the vial from which he had extracted a few drops for the dormouse and quickly downed the contents. He could feel it working. Before his very eyes, he saw the flesh reattach itself and the wound close on its own. He felt better than he had in years, his alertness and energy spiking considerably. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the scar he had checked while in Gringotts had disappeared; the Stone's deep healing properties were truly astonishing. His tests complete, he took out a Dungbomb, placed it in the toilet and set it off. The resulting smell made his eyes water. He placed his wand on the box and changed the sounds to be more constant. This made sure that any noise he would make would be buried by the box.

He took out one of his Portkeys and muttered the password: "I shouldn't have said that." He felt a jerk from somewhere behind his navel and found himself inside his hut. Hagrid quickly set the Stone inside a small cauldron containing distilled water. He did not want to risk shrinking the Stone by converting too much liquid into Elixir. He also exchanged his umbrella for an identical one that could not cast magic and deposited book he had copied from Gringotts into his library. It wouldn't do to be caught with either the Stone or his umbrella, especially since Ollivander's wand shop was the following destination. The wand maker always displayed an uncanny level of perception and the next step in his plan had the highest chance of discovery. He cast a quick Scourgify to clean the blood that had leaked onto his coat before Apparating back to the Leaky Cauldron's bathroom. Upon his arrival, he put the dormouse back into his pocket, having let it roam free for a bit.

He was extremely satisfied by his experiments with the Stone. The cube of gold was probably worth half a million pounds, meaning he had enough money to last him a lifetime. Furthermore, the cauldron he had in his hut would greatly help for the dangerous parts of his plans. If he used the Elixir currently brewing, Hagrid could remove any life threatening injury with a single sip.

The box finished making noise. Hagrid flushed and washed his hands before exiting the bathroom. Tom gave him a look which seemed to imply that the bartender regretted giving him access. "Sorry Tom, them Gringotts carts always upset me stomach." he said, appearing bashful. He tipped the bartender an extra two Sickles for his trouble when Tom gave him a strong beer. Hagrid downed it and gave him a smile. "Gotta go take care o' Harry. See yeh later, Tom." With those words Hagrid left the Leaky Cauldron.

On his way to Madam Malkin's, Hagrid passed by Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. For himself he ordered his favourite flavour and, for Harry, he surmised that chocolate would be the safest bet. He added an extra flavour to Harry's to hide the taste of the potion he would slip in. With one mead ice cream for him and one chocolate and raspberry ice cream with nuts for Harry in his hands, he walked towards Madam Malkin's shop. He looked in through the window and saw Harry talking to none other than Draco Malfoy. The blond noticed him and Hagrid quickly did a little dance to appear silly and idiotic. Malfoy sneered in superiority and he nodded towards him, making Harry look. Hagrid simply grinned and showed Harry the ice cream he had brought, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. From what he could read on Malfoy's lips, the future Slytherin was insulting him. He smiled even wider when he saw Harry's body language becoming more and more icy. Many things had been painstakingly planned for today. Hagrid was ecstatic that this particular part of his plan had went off with neither a hitch nor any need for intervention.

It wasn't long before the Boy-Who-Lived joined him outside. Harry enjoyed his treat in silence; his previous talk with Malfoy leaving a sour taste in his mouth. Little did he know that that was actually the potion Hagrid had placed in his ice cream. This specific potion dampened magical response. It usually did very little against a grown wizard, most adults having enough magic to overcome the blockage created by the potion. Since Harry was still just a child, it would make him unresponsive to wands placed in his hands. This would allow Hagrid to fake Harry's response with a well timed display of wandless, non-verbal magic. Thus, Harry would find himself in the possession of an eleven inch long, holly wand with Fawkes' feather as a core. Intervening in the wand's choice of its wizard would affect Harry's ability to cast powerful magic, but Hagrid wasn't overly concerned about that. He could sense that Harry was already a rather strong wizard and that he would be able to make any wand work for him over time. It would just take him a little longer to get used to the one he would wield.

Making Harry the owner of Voldemort's brother wand served the vital purpose of preventing it from falling into the Dark Lord's hands. If Voldemort came back and tried to use his wand, he'd quickly notice something wrong, courtesy of one sneaky half-giant. Thus he would try to find the next most compatible wand available, bringing him to Ollivander's shop. He would most probably end up killing the wand maker in his rage, being prone to such hasty actions. After that, Hagrid could not predict the Dark Lord's moves, but the death of Ollivander would be a sure sign of Voldemort's early return and Hagrid would act accordingly if it ever came to be. The crucial point was for Voldemort to be left with no wand to serve him faithfully, slowing down his return to power considerably. This would leave Hagrid with extra time to finish all that he had planned.

The half-giant predicted it would take him at most four more years to find and destroy all of Voldemort's Horcruxes. His optimistic estimate was by the very end of Harry's second year, but that was under the assumption that he could get Harry to open the Chamber of Secrets quickly. That would not be an easy task since the boy was already interested by Hagrid's special package. Hagrid seriously doubted the Boy-Who-Lived would solve that particular mystery before the end of his first year, based on what he had seen of the boy; that quest would take up most of his time. The half-giant was quite annoyed that his plan depended so much on Harry. Everything would have been so much easier if he could simply Imperio the boy, but there was just too much which could go wrong with that plan. He would have to manipulate Harry the old-fashioned way.

His train of thought complete, Hagrid looked at the quiet boy in front of him. Clearly, Harry was affected by his interaction with Draco. The half-giant decided to test the boy, to see how much Harry trusted him.

"What's up?" he said, curious to see Harry's response.

"Nothing." came Harry's reply. It was clearly a lie but Hagrid wasn't exactly sure if that meant Harry had trouble opening up to people in general or to him specifically. Regardless, he wasn't bothered. In the former case, Harry would gradually become trusting of his friends and Hagrid was up there as his very first friend. In the second, Hagrid still had so many ways of making Harry like him that it was only a matter of time.

"Hagrid, what's Quidditch?" Harry finally asked after a few moments of silence. If Hagrid read the situation correctly, this question implied that indeed, Harry had trouble opening up to people in general. In this case, the trouble stemmed from Harry perceiving a flaw about himself: his ignorance of the magical world. Draco must have struck a sensitive chord, probably by insulting Muggles for their ignorance of the magical world or something close. This was a personal hit to Harry, since he was raised by Muggles and knew nothing about the magical world. Hagrid decided to try a particular approach.

"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know – not knowin' about Quidditch!" Hagrid phrased it in a way that would make Harry be annoyed. He predicted this behaviour since that was how the young boy had reacted the night before. This would clear away Harry's feeling of melancholy, better enabling the half-giant to influence him.

"Don't make me feel worse." Harry replied, but he seemed less sad and more annoyed. The small boy told the half-giant about his encounter with Draco Malfoy. Hagrid listened attentively to Harry's troubles, nodding sympathetically in all the right places. He gave a firm rebuttal to the blond boy's arguments, hoping to cheer Harry up.

"So what is Quidditch?" Harry finally said, trying to appear as if he was feeling better.

"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like – soccer in the Muggle world – everyone follows Quidditch – played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls – sorta hard ter explain the rules." Hagrid performed his best impression of a sports fan when they encounter someone who has never heard of their favourite sport, giving Harry only glimpses of just how amazing Quidditch was.

"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"

Hagrid inferred that Harry must have heard of the two houses from Draco. This was the perfect moment for Hagrid to push Harry away from Slytherin, while raising his morale.

"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but - "

"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff." Harry interjected gloomily, exactly as Hagrid had expected. The boy wasn't completely over his encounter with Draco yet.

"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin." Hagrid replied darkly. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one." This should set up Harry for either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, the only houses that no one had criticized in front of him.

"Vol-, sorry – You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?" Harry asked, clearly having not expected that. Hagrid could see Harry's opinion of Slytherin going down.

"Years an' years ago." Hagrid said. " _Back when I was only a child._ " he finished in his head.

Having both finished their ice cream, they made their way to Flourish and Blotts where they bought all of Harry's books. Hagrid was a bit disappointed that the only extra book Harry was interested in was one full of curses to cast on his cousin. He had hoped the boy would be at least a little curious at learning more magic. Hagrid explained that Harry was not allowed to cast magic in the Muggle world. The half-giant still filed that information away in his mind. He had an inkling he would use it sometime in the future. After all, Hagrid was not really different from Harry in that regard. Both wanted to use their talents to make their nemesis pay for their transgressions. In Harry's case, his magic to curse Dudley; in Hagrid's case, his intelligence to annihilate Tom Riddle.

He was distracted from his thoughts when Harry pointed out in awe a solid gold cauldron which made Hagrid want to facepalm. It was not long before they were done with the majority of their purchases.

"Just yer wand left – A yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present." Hagrid wanted to buy Harry a present in addition to all he had done, to further cement Harry's friendship. The half-giant immediately saw the effect his words had on the young boy, who turned bright red.

"You don't have to -"

"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at – an' I don't like cats, they make me...sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'." Hagrid's hatred of cats had nothing to do with sneezing and more to do with stalking. He pushed that thought out of his mind and focused on getting an owl for Harry. The half-giant loved owls. They could always be depended on to carry anything, a fact that Hagrid made use of quite often in the shape of a dormouse. The small mammals made useful spies for him, since he was able to communicate with them. He deployed his tiny troops quite often.

They entered the pet shop, Eeylops Owl Emporium, and Hagrid immediately saw the most beautiful snowy white owl he had ever seen. By Harry's reaction, the young boy had also seen her. He seemed to take an immediate liking to her, so Hagrid didn't waste a second. They exited the shop with a cage containing the owl no more than twenty minutes after having entered. Harry could not stop stammering his thanks for the present.

"Don' mention it. Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys." Hagrid said, trying to appear shy. He knew full well that the boy saw Hagrid as the nicest person he had ever met. "Just Ollivanders left now – only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand." Hagrid said pointing towards the wand shop, their final destination. He had to stop himself from laughing out loud at his statement. It was true that Harry would be getting the best wand, but only in terms of furthering the half-giant's plans.


	7. Chapter 7

_10 years ago_

Hagrid cursed when he realized James and Lily were home. They should not have been there. He had chosen the day specifically for their absence. He desperately thought of something to do, but the half-giant could only watch the Dark Lord enter his friends' house, powerless to act; it was too late.

He heard the screams, first James', then Lily's. Shortly after, Hagrid saw a green flash through the bedroom window. A hole was blasted through the wall, but Hagrid had expected the destructive nature of the rebounding curse. Just as he was about to celebrate the death of his nemesis, he saw it. Voldemort was not dead. The Dark Lord's spirit, a being of pure darkness, escaped from Godric's Hollow and headed east. He felt his blood freeze in his veins as he wondered how that could have possibly happened.

Hagrid's plan had been perfect. When Voldemort had heard of the prophecy, he had been easy to predict. The Dark Lord had sought out information on the possible subjects of Trelawney's prediction. Hagrid had let leak something that Voldemort would undoubtedly find interesting: Harry Potter was a half-blood, like himself. This was the main distinction between Harry and Neville. Because the prophecy had stated "And the Dark Lord shall mark him as his equal", Voldemort picked Potter over Longbottom. The ancient ritual Hagrid had subsequently cast should have been the trap to finally kill Voldemort. But, apparently, the Dark Lord had been a step ahead and had measures in place should he ever die, allowing him to somehow survive the death of his body.

Voldemort's spirit was soon out of view and Hagrid heard a loud crack, similar to that of a wizard Apparating. He guessed that Voldemort had used that to escape once he had been out of range of the anti-Disapparition wards he had undoubtedly placed. He looked around, remaining hidden, until he was sure that no one was there. Just as he was about to make his way into the house, he heard a second crack, much fainter than the second. Hagrid was really confused by the unexpected sound. He could have sworn it sounded like another wizard Apparating, but it was too faint. Hagrid looked at the hole in the house and blamed it for putting him on edge.

He went into the house. There, he found James lying with his eyes open wide in fear. Hagrid felt an incredible sadness wash over him, bringing tears streaming down his face. Why had they been there? He had made sure that they had been out, giving them the enchanted crib that could take care of Harry by itself. He bit back a sob when his mind supplied the most likely scenario. James had always been one to change his mind on a dime, and Hagrid cursed himself for not having expected it in this case. Even though they had seemed so excited in the morning at the prospect of spending the night out alone, something had changed their mind.

Just as he was about to close James' eyes, a bright silvery phoenix appeared beside him. It spoke in Dumbledore's voice. "Hagrid, you must get to Godric's Hollow. A terrible thing has happened. I fear only Harry is left alive. You must take him before anyone else can and bring him to safety. It's what James and Lily would have wanted." It's message delivered, the Patronus disappeared; Dumbledore was aware that no confirmation was needed in this case. Hagrid knew that in Dumbledore's model of him, he reacted immediately when confronted with such news.

As he climbed the flight of stairs, Hagrid's brain worked furiously to find a solution. His cover was not blown, thankfully, but Voldemort still being alive was a major problem. Upon reaching the top floor, the half-giant stopped to think. He had too many questions and half-formed ideas running through his head. The most important part was to establish a new goal. Voldemort would undoubtedly be seeking a way to return to his body. Thus, anything that slowed down his return to power was a good first step. Second, Voldemort had attained some form of immortality. This meant that figuring that out was another top priority. With these clearer objectives in mind, the path to success came easily to Hagrid. First step: destroy Riddle's corpse. Most dark rituals involved the body in some way. Without it, Voldemort had very few possible avenues of return and thus he was much more predictable. Second step: Voldemort must not have a wand. The inability to cast magic freely left Voldemort weakened which would allow Hagrid more freedom of action.

Now knowing the guidelines of his plan, Hagrid placed himself in the role of his opponent. Surely Voldemort had in some way prepared himself for the eventuality in which his body was destroyed. Someone who believed in a prophecy that told of their death would not barge into it without a backup plan. Thus, one of the Dark Lord's agents would no doubt be coming to pick up Voldemort's wand for his eventual resurrection. This left two cases. Either Hagrid destroyed the wand and Voldemort sought a new one, placing new unknowns in the plan, or Hagrid used his quite extensive knowledge of wandlore to subtly mess up Voldemort's wand in a way that would be undetectable to most wizards. The choice became obvious when put in this perspective.

He entered Harry's room and found Voldemort's body, along with Lily's. Hagrid took the Dark Lord's wand, which was a few feet away from the body, and incinerated the Dark Lord with a powerful spell from his umbrella, making sure to turn even the bones to ashes. Hagrid cast a spell to destroy the wall behind where Voldemort had been. Muggles would undoubtedly come to the house and would deduce that a gas leak had destroyed part of it. This mundane explanation would delay the arrival of the magical authorities, since the Muggles' reactions would not alert the magical community. Thus, no one would touch Voldemort's wand for a while, leaving the Dark Lord's agent with enough time to come get it.

With that taken care of, he crouched down next to Lily and closed her eyes. Tears resurfaced as he thought of how great of a loss those two deaths were for the magical world. The genius Lily, full of compassion and bravery. The daring James, who had put his entire life on the line to battle Voldemort as a member of the Order of the Phoenix from the young age of eighteen. Those two would have become great wizards had they not met such an untimely death.

He looked up to see Harry, who was crying in his magical crib. Hagrid stood up and used a trick he learned from all his years training animals. He made himself appear very small and non threatening, an incredible feat for a half-giant. Harry soon stopped crying and Hagrid picked him up. He changed his body language to appear more like a mother, making Harry fall asleep very quickly.

With the young boy in his arms, he exited the house. He was about to Apparate out of Godric's Hollow when he heard the roaring sound of a motorcycle. He looked up and saw Sirius Black, who was soon at his side.

"Oh no! Hagrid, what happened? Where are James and Lily? They told me they would stay in, some last minute change. Tell me they changed their mind again!"

"Sorry Sirius." Hagrid said, wiping away the tears from his eyes. "Baby Harry's the only one left."

Sirius wept in Hagrid's coat. After a few moments, he got a hold of himself.

"Hagrid, I need to take care of Harry. I'm his godfather. Lily and James trusted me to take care of him in case something bad happened."

"I can't let yeh have him, Sirius. Dumbledore wants teh see him. You should come with me teh Hogwarts. Dumbledore might be needin' some information." Hagrid knew that Sirius would refuse the offer since he was the one suspected of being the secret keeper. Only Hagrid and a few select others were aware of the change to Peter.

"That's true. It'd be best if Dumbledore could check him over. Also, I have some business to take care of. A rat to kill if you know what I mean." Sirius said. Hagrid found it quite funny how everyone blindly trusted Dumbledore as if the man had no flaws. He was a great wizard for sure, but that did not explain why everyone always obeyed his every suggestion as if it was law. Hagrid could just say that Dumbledore wanted something done and quite a few wizards would gladly fight each other for the opportunity to do it.

The half-giant feigned ignorance about Pettigrew's Animagus form. "Dunno what yeh're talkin' about, but be careful. You-Know-Who might be dead, but his followers aren't."

"One of them soon will be. Take care of my bike Hagrid. I'm off." Sirius Apparated before Hagrid could say anything else. This was good. If Sirius caught up to Pettigrew, the rat would be caught and quite a bit of information could be gained by the authorities, who would crack down hard on the Death Eaters. Hagrid had made sure to Obliviate all of Peter's relevant memories, leaving him with only those of his voluntary choice of becoming a follower. Hagrid shrunk Sirius's bike and put it in his special pocket.

With nothing holding him in Godric's Hollow anymore, Hagrid Apparated to the forbidden forest. A few animals greeted him and he smiled at them. He brought Harry over to his hut and put it in a copy of the crib he had given the Potter's. He used it quite frequently for some of the babies in the forest who lost their parents. With Harry taken care of, Hagrid wrote a letter to Dumbledore. He explained that he had taken Harry from the wreckage of the house and where he had brought him. He sent the letter with one of his many owls.

While waiting for Dumbledore's reply, he began meddling with Voldemort's wand. He decided that sectioning the inner core into thirteen parts would be best. He also used sandpaper to shrink the wand by an eighth of an inch. It might not seem like much, but Ollivander always built his wands to the millimetre. Reducing the length would throw the wand's magical balance completely off. He then placed the wand in a mixture of concentrated Malaclaw venom. The two effects of bad luck would compound and be devastating to anyone using the wand. He left the wand soak in the magical substance before playing a bit with Harry to pass the time.

Luckily for him, Dumbledore's answer came quickly. The Headmaster indicated that Harry should be taken to Privet Drive later that night. Hagrid wondered why Dumbledore would want Harry at his Muggle relatives' house when Sirius Black was still an available guardian. The Dursley's were probably only a temporary measure, safer due to their distance from the magical world.

Hagrid was also very surprised that the Headmaster did not want to see Harry. Was Dumbledore not curious about how the boy had survived the killing curse? Dumbledore probably thought that Harry's safety was more important, what with the Death Eaters still roaming around England.

Since it was early morning, he decided to go into Hogwarts. Harry was under Fang's protection, so he was not worried. He crossed Professor Flitwick and told him that Dumbledore would not be there that night. When he met Professor McGonagall, he told her that Dumbledore would be going to number four, Privet Drive. If one of the two was at the Dursley residence at the good time, Hagrid would conclude that they shared information with regards to Dumbledore. This would warrant further observation, in case they exchanged important information on a regular basis. The half-giant didn't like the term paranoid but as Moody had always said: constant vigilance.

With Voldemort's wand sufficiently infused, Hagrid returned to Godric's Hollow and placed it a few feet from his ashen remains. He made sure it was hidden in the debris so that Muggles could not find it, but a wizard who knew what to look for would have no problem. He cast a ward around the neighbourhood, one that acted like a Sneakoscope and would warn him if anyone sneaked around the Potter residence. After making sure that everything was in place, he Apparated away.

* * *

A rat scampered down the streets of Godric's Hollow. It stopped in front of a broken house, sniffing the air curiously. Detecting no danger, it transformed into a human: Peter Pettigrew. With a small movement from his hand, he summoned a thirteen and a half inch long piece of yew. He caught Voldemort's wand in his right hand as it neared him. He gave it a cursory glance to make sure it was the correct wand and returned to his rat form and scurried off. Wormtail could not afford to lose time; he had a lot of work to do. But in his hurry, he failed to notice a dormouse, smaller than most, observing his every movement.

* * *

 ** **AN**** : Hey everyone, here's chapter 7. It's been a hard chapter for a variety of reasons, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Also here's the first Omake that could be considered part of the story. It's the letters Dumbledore and Hagrid exchanged in the chapter.

 ** **Omake**** :

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

Taken Harry to the hut.  
James and Lily are dead.  
House is falling apart.  
Waiting for your owl.

Hagrid

* * *

Dear Hagrid,

If it is convenient to you, I need for you to bring Harry to number four, Privet Drive later this evening. In the meantime, please take care of him. He is just a poor boy who lost his parents and needs all the care he can get.

Most sincerely yours,  
Albus Dumbledore


	8. Chapter 8

**AN** : Hey everyone! **Chapter 1 has been edited** due to a change in the direction of the story. I have simply removed the part in the cemetery, so no need to read it again.

Enjoy the eighth chapter of "I shouldn't have told you that!"

* * *

Hagrid and Harry stepped inside the wand maker's shop. A tinkling bell rang from somewhere deeper within, signalling the owner that customers had entered. Hagrid sat on the spindly chair, making sure not to break it. He pretended he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, but he actually had spotted Ollivander sneaking up on them. Of course, he acted surprised when the wand maker appeared in front of them, jumping off the chair in a loud crack.

"Good afternoon." Ollivander was an old man, having been around for long enough to have given Hagrid his wand. Harry didn't seem to know how to react and simply settled for an awkward hello. Ollivander was on him instantly.

"Ah yes. Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter. You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work." Before either Harry or Hagrid could say anything, Ollivander had moved closer to Harry. Hagrid could see that Harry was unnerved by the wand maker's unblinking stare. "Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."

" _Of course._ " thought Hagrid. " _As if wizards had never used other wands than the one that had chosen them._ "

Hagrid let Ollivander get close to Harry; the old man always acted like a wise, mysterious wizard.

"And that's where..." Ollivander touched Harry's scar in a startling lack of respect for the boy's personal space. "I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands...well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..." Hagrid felt the wand maker's eyes shift to him.

"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again...Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"

"It was, sir, yes."

"Good wand, that one. But I supposed they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" Hagrid knew where the line of inquiry was going.

"Er - yes, they did, yes." he answered.

"But you don't use them?" There. Hagrid had expected this question, which was the exact reason that he had brought a different umbrella.

"Oh, no, sir." he said, gripping his umbrella tightly. " _Come on, it's obvious that the pieces are in this umbrella. Inspect it so that no one will suspect anything. Come on!_ " But Ollivander seemed satisfied with just a short hum and a piercing look. He turned back to Harry, leaving Hagrid alone.

Hagrid almost sighed. Ollivander would never inspect Hagrid's umbrella. What Hagrid had done was pretty simple. He knew that Ollivander liked to appear superior through acting like a mysterious, wise old wizard. Thus, the half-giant had presented him with an opportunity for him to ascertain his dominance over poor, dumb Hagrid. But he had failed to account for the fact that seeing through his bad acting had already been enough; the fact that Ollivander knew that Hagrid still used his wand had been enough. It was a kind of behaviour Hagrid was not used to. He guessed it was related to Ollivander not wishing him ill, but still needing that superiority, but he wasn't exactly sure. The half-giant decided to be on the lookout for other such behaviour.

"Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see. Which is your wand arm?" Ollivander said, pulling out a long measuring tape. Harry seemed unsure whether or not his dominant hand was indeed his wand hand.

"Er - well, I'm right handed." he said, hoping that information would be enough for the wand maker.

"Hold out your arm. That's it." As Ollivander quickly and efficiently measured all of Harry's arm proportions, he explained how his wands were made. "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand." Hagrid had to agree with Ollivander there. It took a lot of effort or special circumstances for most wizards to use a wand not attuned to them. Though Ollivander was not actually making a general statement about his beliefs but was giving a warning to a child about what to expect should a specific situation ever arise. Even though Hagrid found Ollivander to have a superiority complex, he had to admit the wand maker was good at educating kids.

The tape, which had been acting on its own while the wand maker sought the appropriate wand, finished measuring the gap between Harry's nostrils, Ollivander stopped it with a verbal command. He lent to Harry the fruit of his search.

"Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. Just take it and give it a wave." Hagrid could see that Harry felt quite silly at the idea of waving the wand but complied. No sooner had he lifted his arm than the wand was snatched right out of his hands. Ollivander replaced it with another wand.

"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try - " Hagrid smiled when the wand was again snatched out of Harry's hand, this time before he even had the time to lift it. The wand maker tried and tried again to find the appropriate wand for Harry, but no combination seemed to work. Hagrid found it quite endearing that the professional wand maker was fooled by a simple potion. After the selection of tried wands became so large that it could be described as a big pile, Ollivander finally admitted that finding Harry's wand might be a bit trickier than expected. Hagrid observed his eyes widening as he seemed to put two and two together.

"I wonder, now - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." The wand maker brought for Harry the only other wand to contain Fawkes' tail feather as a core. When it touched Harry's hand, Hagrid quickly cast a nonverbal, wandless warming charm to his hand, and when Harry swished it down, Hagrid made it appear as if it had thrown dancing spots of light on to the walls. He whooped and clapped as Ollivander cried out in joy.

"Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well...how curious...how very curious..." Since Ollivander was staring directly at Harry, Hagrid wasn't the least bit concerned that his actions had been discovered. Instead, he decided to focus on Harry's non-verbal, knowing Ollivander's next topic. He expected Harry to be quite unnerved by the idea of being somehow linked to Voldemort, which was confirmed when Harry swallowed hard and shivered.

They left the store seven Galleons lighter. Hagrid carried most of the packages for Harry on their way home, though Harry was clearly out of it. Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder at Paddington station.

"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves." He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down to eat quietly. Hagrid chose that moment to tackle Harry's issue. "You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet."

"Everyone thinks I'm special." he said at last, after chewing on his hamburger. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander...but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."

Hagrid smiled kindly. He knew what the boy meant, even though his experience had been different. It was hard to be the center of attention for something out of your control. To always be only the Boy-Who-Lived or the half-giant, never just Harry or Hagrid. The half-giant swore that he'd be a friend to him; that he'd always consider him just Harry. Hopefully, Harry would also find other good friends at Hogwarts and be as happy as he had been with all the animals of the forest.

"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. Just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do 'smatter of fact." Harry cheered up instantly at Hagrid's kind words. They finished their burgers in silence, this time more comfortable.

Hagrid helped Harry onto the train, giving him his ticket for the Hogwarts express. He watched the young boy through the window as the train departed and,as soon as Harry was out of sight, he turned around and left.

* * *

 **AN** : This marks the end of the first part. Since we won't see Harry for the next month, a lot of what Hagrid will do is outside of the scope of canon. This means that we're finally going to see what Hagrid is up to on his own free time!

Something awesome: The amazingly beautiful and perfect Tannay has generously made a wonderful piece of fanart! You can find the link on my profile to the drawing on Instagram! ( p/BFEuUIWEs0D/) If anybody else wants to make some art, I'll be glad to link your pieces on my profile.

Finally, here's an Omake detailing what would have happened if Ollivander had checked Hagrid's umbrella.

* * *

 **Omake** : "But you don't use them?" Ollivander asked, giving him a piercing look.

"Oh, no, sir." Hagrid replied, gripping his umbrella tightly against his chest.

"Then why are you gripping that umbrella so tightly?" Bingo. Exactly what Hagrid wanted.

"No...no reason!" Hagrid stammered out, appearing meek.

"Then you won't mind if I check it out. There have been some rumours that reached my ears of some pink umbrella wielding person casting magic."

Hagrid hung his head in shame. "Ok, yeh can check it."

Ollivander seemed giddy with anticipation. He quickly, yet carefully deconstructed Hagrid's umbrella. His eyebrows shot higher each time he removed a piece. After a few minutes of careful observation, he put the umbrella back together exactly how it was.

"Uhm, sorry Hagrid. Your umbrella is perfectly normal." Ollivander finally said, giving Hagrid his umbrella back. "But why were you gripping it so tightly? You looked like you were hiding something."

"Yeh mean, it's ok to have a pink umbrella?"


	9. Chapter 9

With Harry gone, it was almost time for Hagrid to get started on his yearly planning. He Apparated to his hut, after making sure no Muggles were around, and took the Philosopher's Stone out of his cauldron. It hadn't changed in the slightest way that Hagrid could detect, which was good news. He wrapped it again in its original package and headed towards the castle.

He walked leisurely through Hogwarts, slowly making his way to the Headmaster's office. He whispered the password to the stone gargoyle guarding the way and stepped into the revolving staircase leading to Dumbledore's office. The half-giant casually climbed the stairs, knowing that the usually narrow ascension magically expanded to allow him passage. Upon arrival at the top, Hagrid found that, illuminated by torchlight, the various devices populating the headmaster's office looked quite mysterious. The irregular noises made by the multiple apparatuses overlapped frequently, making the office sound very lively. Dumbledore was seated in his usual desk, signing paperwork under the watchful eyes of Headmaster Dippet. The portrait gave Hagrid the evil eye before exiting the frame, probably retreating to another painting due to his presence.

"I'm sorry about Armando, Hagrid. He still believes you've had a hand in what happened all these years ago." Dumbledore said, appearing very sad. "I trust young Harry didn't give you too much trouble." he continued, changing the subject with a smile.

"Harry wasn't any trouble, he's a great lad. Headed fer Gryffindor, that's fer sure." Hagrid replied, slipping easily into his persona.

"And the stone?" Dumbledore asked.

"Ah! I knew I was forgetting somethin'! It's right here." he said, tapping his breast pocket. The half-giant pulled the stone out and gave it to the Headmaster. Dumbledore carefully took it out of its package.

"Oh Nicolas. Such an honour to guard your wonderful creation." Dumbledore sighed wistfully, looking at the stone. "It is both the highest honour and the harshest curse; for one who has made peace with his mortality, to be faced with such temptation. Yet I will do what I must and make sure it is hidden away."

"Anythin' else yeh want me to do?" Hagrid asked, putting as much admiration into his question as was plausible.

"No, Hagrid. That will be all. I do hope young Harry will enjoy his stay at Hogwarts. I expect great things from him. He'll probably be getting in trouble like his father. Try to keep him out of it, Hagrid."

Hagrid filed his confusion away for later. "I'll do my best."

"Thank you Hagrid. All that is missing now is my final line of defence for the Stone." Dumbledore paused, deep in thought. "I am afraid, Hagrid, that I must write a few very important letters. I shall see you tonight at dinner, I presume?"

"O' course!" Hagrid replied enthusiastically, before leaving the office, waving goodbye as he entered the spinning staircase.

With the stone now in Dumbledore's possession, Hagrid returned to his hut. He placed on his table Muggle pens of various colours along with a large sheet of paper. With a flick of his wrist, a small fire appeared in his fireplace. He would burn all he wrote.

* * *

Just as Hagrid's pen touched paper, Dumbledore's quill began moving on its own. It wrote out in neat handwriting the exact words the old wizard dictated. He knew exactly what he wanted his letter to say, having already worked it out in his head.

 _To all concerned,_

 _This letter is to invite you to ensure that your defences are appropriately set up; as has been previously discussed._

 _The object we will be defending is to leave its vault early tomorrow morning and will arrive at Hogwarts sometime tomorrow._

 _Most sincerely yours,_

 _Albus Dumbledore_

He waved his wand in the direction of the letter and watched as five copies appeared out of thin air. They quickly disappeared into an open drawer; the Headmaster had no need for them now. The original moved to an envelope, on which the quill wrote "Quirinus Quirrell". Dumbledore stood up and went to his owl. The now sealed envelope floated to his hand and he tied it to his owl. With a word, it flew out the window, towards its intended destination.

* * *

 **AN** : Hey everyone! Chapter 9 was getting way out of hand, so my beta and I decided that it'd be best to split it up into two parts. This means that this chapter is earlier than I expected, even though it's much later than you expected. The other part of chapter 9 will be posted as chapter 10 later in the month, hopefully. This past month has been insane. I've gotten promoted at work and I've been working almost every day since mid May, so I really haven't had much time to write. This weekend is my last big stretch before finally having a regular work schedule, meaning I'll finally have time to write like I used to.

 **QUESTION** : I'm curious as to what you think. How do you feel about the chapter length so far? Outside of this chapter, the average has been around 2.5k words, which I think is a decent length: not too long and not too short. But I've also noticed that some earlier chapters could have been combined into longer chapters, but would have been posted further apart because longer chapters take me longer to write. So, what would you rather have: Longer chapters with longer posting time in between, shorter chapters on a more regular basis or should I just keep going and post chapters as they come and let them be the length they're going to be?


	10. Chapter 10

**AN** : Hey everyone! Chapter 10 is finally here! Oof, that was a hard chapter to write. My beta and I had to make sure nothing was out of place without revealing too much.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, followed or faved. It's always great to get those emails. I've also written a short Omake at the end. As usual, its a funny little spinoff of the chapter.

Enjoy Chapter 10!

* * *

Part 1: Leading up to...

' _If you know your enemy and yourself, you need not fear a hundred battles._ ' Sun Tzu's words passed through Hagrid's head as he began his plotting.

With the ease of experience, the half-giant decided to focus on what had already happened. He was well aware of most occurrences in magical Britain, but there was one thing bothering him about the past week: the entire Philosopher's Stone situation. Why did Dumbledore want it inside Hogwarts? He had said that it was, per Master Flamel's wishes, to better defend it from Voldemort. But it had clearly been well defended before, since no one had ever figured out where the Stone had been hidden.

This pointed to hidden information, since Hagrid refused to think that Dumbledore had made such an idiotic move. Clearly, Flamel and Dumbledore were planning something, probably to do with the Philosopher's Stone.

The half-giant didn't bother looking deeper into that plot. Dumbledore had some sort of plan and Hagrid would uncover it through observation during the year. Whatever Dumbledore had planned was inconsequential compared to the response it would elicit in his enemies. With that in mind, he turned his attention to Voldemort. He wrote the name in big on his paper.

"What does Riddle want?" he thought aloud. The answers came to him easily, and he wrote them down.

1\. Immortality  
2\. Power

The dark wizard had already succeeded in surviving the death of his body, but the cost had been that he was stuck as a wraith, a shadow of his former self. This meant that he had lost most of his power during his fall; his supporters were scattered and he could not access his own magic until he found a new body.

The path to immortality was one that Hagrid was familiar with. He had already examined multiple ways that someone like Voldemort might approach the problem. He had learned of Horcruxes, the Philosopher's Stone and the regeneration potion as the most likely ways someone like Tom would attempt immortality. He had even went as far as researching the Muggle side, but ended up dismissing the whole nonsense that some scientists called 'Quantum Immortality'. Of course, the Philosopher's Stone had been in Nicolas Flamel's possession, in an undisclosed location until very recently, which made it almost impossible to acquire. But Dumbledore had just moved it away from its safe place and into Hogwarts, meaning that Voldemort would consider it a viable avenue now.

As for power, the Philosopher's Stone would easily restore Riddle to peak condition. That was what made it truly effective; it served the dual purpose of giving Voldemort an extra avenue of immortality as well as giving him power for the entirety of his immortal life.

There was one other thing of interest to Voldemort: the Prophecy. With Harry Potter headed to Hogwarts, he would be leaving whatever protection he had been under for the last ten years. Since the Dark Lord had already thought of Harry as a threat to his immortality, taking out Harry while he was still young seemed like a good plan. Of course, that had backfired the last time, but Hagrid firmly believed that Voldemort thought that was a fluke.

From this information, Hagrid concluded that both Harry and the Philosopher's Stone were likely targets this year.

* * *

Part 2: Trouble at Hogwarts...

With Harry, the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets and Merlin knows what else inside Hogwarts, Hagrid was ready to bet on Voldemort making an appearance. At the very least, the Dark Lord would send one of his agents. He thus continued his brainstorming by writing down all the different avenues of attack that Voldemort could use.

1\. A direct attack on Hogwarts  
2\. Sneak into Hogwarts  
3\. Send an agent

A direct attack on Hogwarts was extremely unlikely, due to Voldemort's weakened state. Furthermore, Dumbledore's presence would make it almost impossible for an invading party to breach the castle's powerful wards. Even though the Headmaster could be tricked into leaving his fortress, the fact that Voldemort's followers were scattered meant Hagrid could safely rule that method out.

Hagrid combined the next two possible avenues into one, the infiltration category. He then subdivided it into two new categories, and focused specifically on Voldemort coming in person.

1\. Hide: Sneaking in without alerting anyone.  
2\. Disguise: Take someone's place.

The first possibility raised the problem of the castle wards, which would alert the Headmaster of an intrusion. If those wards weren't enough, Hagrid had seen the ones present around the third-floor corridor and knew that any movement there would alert Dumbledore immediately. Furthermore, Hagrid firmly believed the Dark Lord would not react only to Harry Potter's return, but assuredly to the Philosopher's Stone's reappearance. This meant that Voldemort would plan to steal the Stone. The Dark Lord would therefore take into consideration Dumbledore's extensive warding of the Stone against anyone who wasn't supposed to be at Hogwarts. Riddle would also realize that any type of mistake around those wards would confirm his presence to Dumbledore, resulting in even stronger defences. This meant that infiltrating Hogwarts sneakily was not a very efficient method for either Voldemort or his agents, based on their goal.

The second hypothesis was thus the most likely. This led to two distinct type of disguises.

1\. Faculty member: A teacher, Filch, himself, Dumbledore.  
2\. Student: First years, older students.

Hagrid knew that Voldemort was prideful. He had chosen a theatrical name, had always staged his fights in a way to instil as much fear as possible in his enemies and, most importantly, always made sure to polish his appearance; both during his time at Hogwarts and as the Dark Lord. Hagrid had never seen Voldemort in anything else than the blackest robes. Hagrid even recalled the Dark Lord walking in a specific way to appear more predatory. It was therefore very unlikely that he would ever stoop so low as to accept to be under the authority of the Hogwarts teachers. Voldemort disguising as a student was very unlikely. Though Hagrid made a mental note that if Filch died during the year, to be on the lookout for Voldemort masquerading as a student.

Since Harry had already been checked out, this left the possibility of someone impersonating a teacher. Hagrid already suspected Quirrell of being up to something, but there wasn't enough evidence to say for certain that it was under Voldemort's orders. There was the possibility that Quirrell's strange behaviour was due to a common cause rather than a direct action on Voldemort's part. Hagrid wrote down Quirrell as someone he would definitely be observing carefully. The half-giant believed that any deviation from the norm this year would undoubtedly be related to either Harry Potter or the Stone, meaning he would investigate appropriately.

The other teachers were not the type to voluntarily work for Voldemort, being on Dumbledore's side. The only wild card was Snape. The man was very Slytherin, but Dumbledore had a very strong hold over him. Hagrid wasn't sure of the details, but he knew it involved Lily Evans' death and Severus's part in it. Such a strong hold wouldn't break easily and Hagrid was confident that Snape would remain on the side of 'good'. Still, Hagrid would also observe him carefully.

Filch was another possibility, though the Squib stayed inside the castle at all times making him a non-issue. Finally, there was Dumbledore. Hagrid did not write anything down for this possibility, since, if Voldemort managed to successfully replace Dumbledore, there was little hope left. The only possibility left unexplored was himself.

* * *

Part 3: Soon.

If Tom Riddle was bold enough to come to Hogwarts himself, Hagrid was confident that he'd be aware of it quickly. Even if he did not figure it out by direct observation, he would make use of the Marauder's Map every week, as was his habit. He found it funny that the Weasley twins never noticed how they always 'forgot' it in their dorm.

On the other hand, if someone else was acting as Voldemort's agent, Hagrid would not necessarily discover it fast enough. One strategy was to make himself appear like the easiest point of entry into Hogwarts. He had to appear like the one who could reveal information about the defences surrounding the Stone. Just like the Dark Lord, Voldemort's agent would notice his 'idiocy' and try to manipulate him into revealing information, meaning that he would know exactly what the enemy knew. But, to make this more likely, Hagrid had to reinforce his appearance as a blabbermouth to the people in Hogsmeade, which he frequently visited. If approached, he would let slip a piece of information that would uniquely identify the agent. With a twinkle in his eye, he wrote down on his paper the word 'Instruments'.

With his plan set for the Philosopher's Stone, Hagrid turned his attention to a potential problem: The Chamber of Secrets. If Voldemort was in Hogwarts, then there was a good chance that he would reopen the Chamber of Secrets. Myrtle had confirmed the Chamber's location, which meant that Hagrid could have access to the Basilisk inside. While it would normally be very good to have access to Basilisk venom, there was still an enormous cost associated with it; Hagrid would be suspected of opening the Chamber again which could see him taken to Azkaban. Hagrid wasn't too scared of the possibility: he had contingencies in place should that ever happen. The problem was with Dumbledore's defences surrounding the Stone: they were incredibly weak, the kind that, while they would sound an alarm, would not even keep a first year out. If someone was to lure the Headmaster out of Hogwarts which would leave the Stone with only the defences already set in place. Feeling even more confused about Dumbledore's plan, or lack thereof, Hagrid convinced himself that he was not ready yet for the reopening of the Chamber without having an ace up his sleeve that could protect the Stone in his absence.

Hagrid thought about who could defeat Voldemort should Dumbledore ever leave, and he immediately thought of Harry Potter. The lingering blood defences meant that Voldemort could not touch Harry without repercussions, and even if they ended up crossing wands, Priori Incantatem would work in Harry's favour. Hagrid had already begun to get Harry curious about the Stone, which would work in his favour; he would act as a final defence surrounding the Stone. If Harry suspected someone of trying to steal it, the young Gryffindor to be would try to stop them.

Thankfully, if Hagrid was ever sent to Azkaban for the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets, he didn't have to worry about the possibility of Harry fighting against one of Voldemort's agents. Since only a Parselmouth could open the Chamber, only the Dark Lord coming to Hogwarts himself could make this situation arise. While this normally would be the worst outcome, Harry's natural advantage meant it would work out for the best.

With the Voldemort part of the equation almost settled, Hagrid focused his attention onto what needed to be in place in case the Chamber was opened. The school's Mandrake supply was in good shape, but Hagrid needed to restock on slug repellent. Furthermore, Hagrid needed to make sure his roosters stayed healthy; Basilisks being easily taken care of by the rooster's cry.

Hagrid finally turned his attention to how he'd bait Voldemort's agent. He had already prepared a strategy for that years ahead. The trick was simple: he pretended to have a new passion for some dangerous animal. He used the strategy quite often, but only one person had ever taken the bait. The Greek man who had sold him Fluffy had been deeply interested in Hagrid's love for dangerous creatures. It had turned out to be a fluke; the man was just as big of a creature lover as he was and had not actually tried anything. But Hagrid did not doubt the strength of his plan; if powerful forces wanted information on the happenings surrounding Hogwarts, they would come to Hagrid bearing gifts.

Hagrid was confident that he had the year mapped out in sufficient details. He committed it all to memory, a process which took ten minutes, before carefully placing all physical proof into the fire. He made sure it was completely burned before extinguishing the fire. Only then did he exit his hut by Apparating to Diagon Alley.

There, he restocked on Flesh-Eating Slug Repellent, making sure that there would be some if ever the Basilisk petrified anyone. He further bought a magically protected chicken pen. It would considerably slow down anyone attempting to breach into it; the enclosure was designed to withstand a troll attack.

With his shopping done, Hagrid made a quick stop at the Leaky Cauldron, making sure to talk about how much he wished he had a Manticore. He knew no one suspicious was present, thanks to his Sneakoscope, but still made careful note of who was present to hear of his love for Manticores; Hagrid knew the importance of constant vigilance. Next week, Hogsmeade would hear of his passion for Dragons.

He spent a few hours there before returning to his hut, satisfied with his very productive day.

* * *

Part 4: Let the games begin.

The rest of the month passed by in a daze. Hagrid worked very hard to make sure he improved many parts of his plan. The biggest advantage of his improved plan was its flexibility; for any turn of event he had thought of, he could twist circumstances to get a favourable result.

It was thus that Hagrid found himself waiting for the arrival of the Hogwarts Express. The sun had almost finished setting over the great lake. Dumbledore had drafted him, probably with the purpose of observing Harry. He had to give the Headmaster credit, Dumbledore knew he would be getting information on the young Potter without having to specify anything.

The train finally arrived and Hagrid felt a chill of excitement run over his body. It was finally time. He moved towards the crowd of students, his lamp in hand hovering a good two feet above the future students' heads, and yelled out.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

* * *

 **Omake** :

Hagrid looked at his paper. "Eh, fuck it. I'll just wing it this year. What could possibly go wrong?"

A few weeks later, the Chamber of Secrets was reopened. Harry Potter was the first casualty, and Hagrid was quickly sent to Azkaban under the recommendation of the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, who had read that the half-giant had been the one to open it the previous time. A simple letter removed Dumbledore from Hogwarts for the day, meaning that it was a piece of cake for Quirrell to steal his path to immortality. He left Hogwarts in an explosion of Fiendfyre, and took control of the Ministry in under a month.


End file.
